The studio behind Fortnite, Epic Games, is laying off 16 percent of its staff this morning. Bloomberg initially reported that 870 jobs would be impacted by this massive round of layoffs, which the Fortnite company later confirmed.
Epic Games is seemingly looking to stabilize its finances and to help announce its divesting in Bandcamp and is spinning off most of the team to SuperAwesome. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a public memo to employees that the company has been trying to reduce costs, which includes transitioning to a net zero hiring approach and not spending expenses on marketing or events. The company has been trying not to cut jobs, but layoffs were necessary to stabilize the company’s finances.
“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect, I see this was unrealistic,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in a memo to employees.
Epic Games wants to focus on projects it knows will succeed, including the next Fortnite Season and Chapter 5, Del Mar, Sparks, and Juno. Additionally, Epic is looking to make more money off its consumers with the recent price increase to Fortnite V-bucks, which will affect players in the US and other countries. Epic might be going back into battle in court with Apple as the company has requested the US Supreme Court to review the ruling of Apple’s verdict that cleared them of violating anti-trust laws, according to a Bloomberg report.
