Epic Games is laying off over 1,000 workers, the latest in a series of major cuts in the video game indusattempt.
CEO Tim Sweeney stated in a memo that a drop in engagement in the company’s hit game “Fortnite” starting in 2025 has led to continued losses. The Cary, N.C.,-based company that has offices in San Francisco has also identified over $500 million in cost savings around contracting, marketing and closing open positions.
“Since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI,” Sweeney stated. “To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”
Numerous video game studios have cut staff in recent years, as player spfinishing has dropped after the pandemic’s boom. San Francisco hosted one of gaming’s largegest conferences earlier this month, and attfinishance was down 30% from the prior year in part becautilize of layoffs, attfinishees stated. Though some tiny indepfinishent teams have achieved major success, including in the Bay Area, they remain outliers.
“Some of the challenges we’re facing are indusattempt-wide challenges: slower growth, weaker spfinishing, and tougher cost economics; current consoles selling less than last generation’s; and games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment,” Sweeney stated.
He also stated the success of “Fortnite’s” updates has been mixed, while the game has only recently returned to mobile. The game was pulled on Google and Apple’s mobile stores in 2020 after Epic sought to challenge their app store fees, leading to multi-year court battles, and only brought back on both stores in the past year.
Sweeney stated Epic has survived multiple eras of turmoil, starting in the 1990s.
“Market conditions today are the most extreme we’ve seen since those early days, with massive upheaval in the indusattempt accompanied by massive opportunity for the companies that come out as winners on the other side,” Sweeney stated.
Other video game companies including Electronic Arts and Microsoft, which owns Activision Blizzard, have cut jobs in recent years.
Leave a Reply