Epic Games is cutting over 1,000 jobs as its flagship battle royale game Fortnite struggles through a “downturn” in engagement.
News of the layoffs, which follows 830 job cuts at the company in 2023, was shared in a blog post by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, mirroring a note sent to employees today.
“Today we’re laying off over 1000 Epic employees,” the post reads. “I’m sorry we’re here again. The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded. This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place.”
The message then shifts to the challenges faced by both Epic and the industry as a whole. “Some of the challenges we’re facing are industry-wide challenges: slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics; current consoles selling less than last generation’s; and games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment.
“And some of our challenges are unique to Epic. Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic with every season; we’re only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimising Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers.”
“Since it’s a thing now,” Sweeney continued, “I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI. To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”
Staff losing their jobs will receive at minimum four months of base pay, with additional funds provided based on tenure at Epic. The healthcare plan for these employees is also being extended, with those in the US getting six months of coverage. Stock option vesting will accelerate through January 2027, and equity exercise options will be extended for up to two years.
Sweeney’s latest statement is notably similar to the one he wrote amid the 830 layoffs at Epic in 2023. “For a while now,” he said at the time, “we’ve been spending way more money than we earn.” That round of job cuts was similarly blamed on Fortnite’s struggles, and resulted in the “decimation” of Fall Guys developer Mediatonic, which Epic acquired in 2021.
Today’s layoffs follow Epic’s announcement earlier this year it would be increasing the price of Fortnite’s V-Bucks to help “pay the bills”.
