Fortnite Creator Epic Games Announces Layoffs Of 830 Staff Members

Epic Games, the company behind "Fortnite" and Unreal Engine, is laying off 830 employees, which accounts for approximately 16% of its workforce.

CEO Tim Sweeney shared the news in a memo, citing financial difficulties resulting from overspending in pursuit of expanding Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem.

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"I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect, I see that this was unrealistic," Sweeney wrote.

He added: "We concluded that layoffs are the only way, and that doing them now and on this scale will stabilize our finances."

In addition to the layoffs, Epic Games is divesting its music service platform Bandcamp and spinning off most of SuperAwesome, a kid-safe technology company, which were acquired in 2022 and 2020, respectively. Approximately 250 employees are leaving through these divestitures, IGN reported.

Epic Games is offering severance packages to laid-off employees, which include six months of base pay, healthcare coverage for six months (in the US/Canada/Brazil), accelerated stock option vesting schedules, and other benefits.

While the layoffs will affect various parts of the company, Epic Games emphasized that core development efforts would remain intact, although some projects might experience delays due to resource constraints.

"We’re OK with the schedule tradeoff if it means holding on to our ability to achieve our goals, get to the other side of profitability and become a leading metaverse company," the company's CEO concluded.

The move comes in the wake of Epic Games' recent increase in Fortnite V-Bucks prices and the departure of its Chief Fortnite Architect, Donald Mustard.

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Image credits: sdx15 on Shutterstock.