Disney is handing Springfield over to Fortnite’s developers. At Unreal Fest in Chicago, Disney announced that The Simpsons is joining Epic Games’ IP Partner Program, which means the global Fortnite developer community will get an official toolkit to build Simpsons-themed games inside Fortnite. The toolkit arrives later in 2026.
Ray Gresko, SVP and Head of Product and Development at Disney Digital Entertainment, made the announcement. The toolkit will include a library of characters, locations, and other elements built for Unreal Editor for Fortnite, so creators can drop Homer, Bart, and the rest of Springfield directly into their own islands.
What does the IP Partner Program actually do?
It lets independent Fortnite creators build experiences using official Disney franchises instead of fan approximations. The Simpsons follows the official Star Wars toolkit that launched earlier in 2026, and Disney leaned on those numbers to make its case. Within the first 72 hours of the Star Wars launch, nearly 8 million players jumped into custom Star Wars islands built by the community.
A few of those community games posted big totals. Galactic Siege racked up 6.53 million plays in its first six days. Escape Vader drew 3.37 million over the same stretch. Droid Tycoon became the second most-played experience in all of Fortnite that week. That track record is why The Simpsons looks like a logical next step rather than a one-off stunt, and it ties into how Disney keeps pushing its franchises into gaming and digital spaces.
Why The Simpsons makes sense here
The audience already showed up once. More than 80 million players spent 780 million hours in the Fortnite x The Simpsons season last fall. The animated short that launched that crossover hit No. 1 on the Disney+ Top 10 Today in the US, which says the appetite stretches past the game itself.
The franchise also spans generations, and that matters for a creator program. Some players grew up with Homer and Bart. Others are meeting Springfield for the first time through a Fortnite island or a streaming recommendation. A toolkit aimed at developers gives both groups new ways in, which is the kind of reach Disney has been chasing across its streaming and interactive entertainment slate.
When can developers get it?
Disney says the Simpsons IP Toolkit will be available through the IP Partner Program later this year and asked creators to stay tuned for more details. That is the part still missing. There is no exact release date, no list of which specific characters and locations make the cut, and no word on whether casual players (not just developers) get a tied-in event or map the way the fall 2025 season delivered.
Pricing and access terms for developers were not detailed either. For now, the headline is the franchise and the platform, with the mechanics to follow.
What to know
This is a developer and gaming story, not a theme park change, so it does not affect a park visit. If you follow Disney’s broader digital play, it is another piece of the company’s effort to build a long-term presence inside Fortnite alongside Epic, and it connects to the same momentum driving Disney’s larger push into the Fortnite ecosystem. Anyone who builds in Fortnite should watch for the toolkit drop later in 2026.
Source: The Walt Disney Company
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