Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Video games, has introduced at this time that the Fortnite creator is shedding greater than 1,000 workers members, in addition to confirming the shutdown of Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Competition Battle Stage modes for the battle royale title.
Talking in a observe to workers at this time, the chief partially blamed a downturn in Fortnite engagement for the job losses, regardless of it remaining “some of the profitable video games on the planet.” Nonetheless, Sweeney observe that engagement has remained inconsistent between seasons.
In the present day we’re shedding over 1000 Epic workers. I’m sorry we’re right here once more. The downturn in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025 means we’re spending considerably greater than we’re making, and now we have to make main cuts to maintain the corporate funded. This layoff, along with over $500 million of recognized value financial savings in contracting, advertising, and shutting some open roles places us in a extra secure place.
Those that have misplaced their jobs will obtain a severance packaged “that features no less than 4 months of base pay, with extra primarily based on tenure,” he added.
Among the challenges we’re going through are industry-wide challenges – slower development, weaker spending, and harder value economics, present consoles promoting lower than final era’s, and video games competing for time in opposition to different increasingly-engaging types of leisure.
And a few of our challenges are distinctive to Epic. Regardless of Fortnite remaining some of the profitable video games on the planet, we’ve had challenges delivering constant Fortnite magic with each season; we’re solely within the early levels of returning to cell and optimizing Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the {industry}’s vanguard now we have taken a variety of bullets in a battle which is simply within the early days of paying off for ourselves and all builders.
The layoffs come just some weeks after Epic Video games introduced that it was growing the value of Fortnite V-Bucks, which got here into impact on March 19. This isn’t the primary time that V-Bucks have elevated in value, as again in September 2023 Epic Video games revealed that it was bumping up the value alongside confirming almost 900 individuals had misplaced their jobs on the firm. This amounted to round 16% of its workforce on the time.
[Source – VGC, Fortnite Status on X]
