Rumor - Microsoft to acquire Epic Games

We've all read that Microsoft would love to buy Yahoo. While this was big news to a lot of people, I couldn't actually care less. I haven't touched my Hotmail or Yahoo Mail accounts since I got my Gmail invitation four years ago. However, there is one possible purchase by Microsoft that sparks my interest, Epic Games.

Epic is arguably one of the fastest-growing gaming technology companies out there. The rumor of an acquisition is no doubt helped by the close relationship that Microsoft has maintained with Epic over the last couple of years. Their 360 exclusive Gears of War was a huge success and netted both companies a good bit of cash. However, what Microsoft would likely be most interested in is the Unreal Engine which Epic licenses out to other studios.

So how much would the software giant pay for a company like Epic Games? If you asked Travis Moses at GamePro, he'd guess at $1 billion. Microsoft is known to have some deep pockets, so who knows?

[via WRAL]