Fortnite Publisher Epic Games to Layoff 16% of Employees…

The Epic Games layoffs are cutting 16% of its Workforce. This means the gaming giant is cutting almost 900 of its employees in the coming days.

As reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Epic Games Inc. informed its employees today via a memo that over 900 employees would be laid off.

This comes hot off the heels of Epic raising the price of the premium currency of their hit title Fortnite in all regions using the US Dollar as store currency. These layoffs were already expected after Epic started a hiring freeze earlier this year to focus on new games in development.

Epic Games Layoffs, Over 900 Employees Affected

According to the email CEO Tim Sweeney sent to Epic employees over 16% of their workforce is affected by these layoffs. In addition to that, independent music publishing platform Bandcamp is being divested into Songtradr while marketing agency SuperAwesome returns to being an independent entity.

The reason cited for this action is the stagnant growth of Fortnite Battle Royale which according to Sweeney now costs more to operate than the revenue it creates for the company.

The email also mentions that all employees being laid off are offered six months of base pay as severance packages as well as six months' worth of healthcare in the US, Canada, and Brazil.

Just for context, Epic generated around $6.27 million dollars USD in revenue seeing increasing profit margins every year since the release of Fortnite's Battle Royale game mode.

Unreal Engine 5, Unreal Fest, and Fortnite's Decline

Epic has been busy these past few years. Just recently they unveiled their new Unreal Engine 5 with its revolutionary tech which makes AAA games development easier than ever. The email mentioned that during Unreal Fest next week, Epix plans to bring together the community and spotlight the future of the engine.

Sweeny also praised that the new Creator ecosystem which allows players to share and profit from their creations is allowing some of its creators to make a living off it.

The future of the Unreal Engine is still up in the air, but if Sweeney's claims are to be believed, Fortnite is seeing a slow and steady decline as a consequence of its rapid growth. Fortnite frequently features collaborations with the biggest celebrities, brands, and media projects in the world.

Those ongoing license costs for music or the likeness of actors and characters together with a slow decline in players might be the reason why Fortnite is just that expensive to make.

We'll keep you updated on the situation as more information becomes available here on ESTNN.