Update: Epic has confirmed the layoffs, revealing that 830 total personnel will be affected by the cuts.
Epic has published a memo from CEO Tim Sweeney outlining the scope of the layoffs. Sweeney says all employees affected will receive a six-month severance package, with two-thirds of the affected employees lying outside of the "core" development staff.
Seemingly in addition to the 830 staff laid off, 250 people will be leaving the company via divestitures. Epic will be divesting Bandcamp and SuperAwesome, and is insisting that there will be no further layoffs. Epic also states there will be no delays to anything Fortnite-related because of the layoffs, and that Fortnite's Chapter 5 is still on schedule.
"Some of our products and initiatives will land on schedule, and some may not ship when planned because they are under-resourced for the time being," Sweeney said. "We’re ok with the schedule tradeoff if it means holding on to our ability to achieve our goals, get to the other side of profitability and become a leading metaverse company.
Original: Fortnite and Unreal Engine developer Epic Games is reportedly laying off 16% of its total staff.
Earlier today, September 28, Bloomberg first reported that Epic is laying off roughly 900 developers as part of sweeping redundancies. According to the outlet, this will make roughly 16% of the developer's total work force redundant.
This morning, rumors were flying as Epic disabled Slack for employees ahead of the news. Laid-off Epic employees will receive six months severance and health benefits. All-hands meeting happening shortly. Story being updated as I learn more: https://t.co/BK1oVRgCbaSeptember 28, 2023
"The job cuts were announced in a memo to staff, said the person, who asked not to be named disclosing information that’s not yet public," reads the Bloomberg report. At the time of writing, Epic Games has yet to make a public acknowledgement or announcement of the redundancies.
As Bloomberg points out, Epic Games is one of the biggest privately held video game developers in the world. CEO Tim Sweeney owns the majority of the company, while Chinese gaming conglomerate Tencent owns 40% of the developer.
A follow-up report indicates Epic is also selling off some of its properties, with Bandcamp going to another company and marketing arm SuperAwesome becoming independently operated.
The Epic layoffs follow the news that Sega is canceling Hyenas, it's in-development shooter from Total War studio Creative Assembly. Accompanying the cancellation are reported layoffs at the studio, which came as a huge shock to many considering Hyenas was demoed at Gamescom 2023 just last month.
The redundancies fall on the day Epic announced it would be increasing the price of Fortnite's V-Bucks currency in several territories around the world. For example, purchasing 1,000 V-Bucks before the change coming in October would've cost you $7.99, whereas it'll now set you back $8.99. Elsewhere, 2,800 V-Bucks will now cost $22.99, instead of $19.99.
Earlier this month, Epic confirmed that Fortnite veteran and creative lead Donald Mustard is stepping down.
