Epic Games cuts 16% of its workforce

Epic Games will lay off around 830 employees, or 16% of jobs at the company. The Fortnite maker says it has no plans for further cuts and cites slimmer margins from its shared revenue as part of the decision.

The report first came from Bloomberg News reporter Jason Schreier, who said Epic Games would lay off employees. Bloomberg’s source said the announcement came from Epic Games through an internal memo. Schreier’s follow-up post stated Epic cut Slack access to affected employees ahead of the news breaking internally.

Epic Games has since confirmed its sweeping layoffs. In an official statement, Epic shared CEO Tim Sweeney’s email to employees announcing layoffs for around 16% of its workforce. It will also divest in Bandcamp, which it acquired in 2022, and most of SuperAwesome. It estimates around 250 jobs from those layoffs are cuts from both companies.

“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,” wrote Sweeney in his email to Epic employees. “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”

The Fortnite maker will offer six months base pay and healthcare for employees in the US, Canada, and Brazil. In its FAQ regarding layoffs, Epic also claims there will not be more layoffs and that it continues to hire for “critical roles, while maintaining a net-zero at our [Epic Games] new size.” Epic plans to hold a follow-up company meeting later in October to discuss its new direction.

The company cites operating at lower margins as a reason for the cuts, and while it claims “Fortnite is starting to grow again,” that growth is “driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing.”

Epic Games joins other industry giants in a spree of mass games industry layoffs. Just within the last year, Embracer Group announced its restructuring plan, which led to cuts at the Tomb Raider studio, Crystal Dynamics. BioWare also eliminated “approximately 50 roles” in recent layoffs, while Firaxis Games used the same ‘trimming up’ reasoning to cut some 30 jobs.

Destructoid reached out to Epic Games for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.