Epic Video games has introduced that it has laid off over 1,000 staff. In a press release, CEO Tim Sweeney mentioned the layoffs are resulting from a drop in engagement in Fortnite that started in 2025, which has led to the corporate “spending considerably greater than [it’s] making” and needing to “make main cuts to maintain the corporate funded.” He additionally famous that the layoffs “aren’t associated to AI.”
The complete announcement:
At present we’re shedding over 1,000 Epic staff. 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 we’ve got to make main cuts to maintain the corporate funded. This layoff, along with over $500 million of recognized price financial savings in contracting, advertising and marketing, and shutting some open roles places us in a extra secure place.
A number of the challenges we’re dealing with are industry-wide challenges: slower progress, weaker spending, and more durable price economics; present consoles promoting lower than final technology’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 one 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 phases of returning to cellular and optimizing Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the {industry}’s vanguard we’ve got taken plenty of bullets in a battle which is just within the early days of paying off for ourselves and all builders.
Because it’s a factor now, I ought to be aware that the layoffs aren’t associated to AI. To the extent it improves productiveness, we need to have as many superior builders growing nice content material and tech as we are able to.
What we now have to do is evident: construct superior Fortnite experiences with contemporary seasonal content material, gameplay, story, and reside occasions; speed up developer instruments with higher stability and functionality as we evolve from Unreal Engine 5 and UEFN to Unreal Engine 6. And we’ll be kicking off the following technology of Epic with large launch plans in the direction of the tip of the 12 months.
This isn’t our first time being right here. Epic survived upheavals in 1990’s with the transfer from 2D to 3D with Unreal 1; within the 2000’s constructing console video games with Gears of Struggle; and in 2012 transferring to on-line gaming with Paragon and Fortnite. Every time, we rebuilt our foundations and earned a renewed management place.
Market situations at this time are probably the most excessive we’ve seen since these early days, with large upheaval within the {industry} accompanied by large alternative for the businesses that come out as winners on the opposite aspect. That’s what we’re aiming to do for our gamers, and we purpose to deliver different like-minded builders within the {industry} alongside on the journey to construct an more and more open and vibrant way forward for leisure collectively.
At Epic, we pleasure ourselves in solely hiring the {industry}’s greatest, so it is vitally painful to half with so many proficient folks. The parents impacted by the layoffs will obtain a severance package deal that features not less than 4 months of base pay, with extra primarily based on tenure. We’re additionally extending Epic-paid healthcare protection.
For instance, within the U.S., they’ll obtain paid protection for six months. We’ll additionally speed up their inventory choices vesting by way of January 2027 and lengthen fairness train choices for as much as two years.
We’ll have an organization assembly Thursday to speak concerning the roadmap in additional element.
—Tim
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