Epic Games Lays Off 830 Employees, 16% of Workforce, Amid Cost Cutting and Unprofitability

Epic Games is laying off 830 employees, about 16% of its workforce, to cut costs amid unprofitability. CEO cites overspending relative to revenue.
Severance packages offered, along with extended stock option vesting and exercise periods. Two-thirds of layoffs were outside of core development teams.
Epic is divesting Bandcamp and spinning out part of SuperAwesome, another cost-cutting measure.
Fortnite remains banned from App Store and Play Store, impacting revenue, and Epic continues legal battles with Apple.
Company will stay focused on Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and building for the metaverse. Some products/initiatives may be delayed to conserve resources.

engadget.com

Relevant topic timeline:

9/28/2023

Epic Games Lays Off 830 Employees Amid Fortnite Growth, Promises Severance

Video game company Epic Games will lay off about 830 employees, representing around 16% of its workforce, due to financial challenges and a lower-margin business.

9/29/2023

Fortnite Emote Mocks Layoffs Same Day Epic Announces 900 Employees Let Go

Epic Games faced backlash after laying off 900 employees and then re-releasing a microtransaction in Fortnite, causing criticism and anger among players and former employees.

10/6/2023

Epic Games CEO reveals financial struggles led to recent layoffs after relying too heavily on Fortnite revenue

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney admitted that the company's recent layoffs were a necessary survival move to stabilize their finances amid financial difficulties and ongoing legal battles, with the company heavily relying on Fortnite's revenue.

10/16/2023

Epic Games Launches 'Now on Epic' Program with 100% Revenue Share to Attract Developers

Fortnite maker Epic Games has launched the Now on Epic program, which offers a 100% revenue boost for eligible back catalog games for the first six months of release on the Epic Games Store, in an effort to compete better with Steam.

Topics

Posted 9/28/2023, 9:18:30 PM