Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Epic Games is the latest video game company to make reductions to its workforce. According to a new report, the company behind Fortnite and the popular Unreal Engine is laying off 900 employees, which represents a whopping 16 percent of all employees.
The news of layoffs at Epic Games comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. The company reportedly informed employees about the decision in a memo, which was anonymously shared with the outlet. It’s unclear what led to the layoffs, but roughly 900 Epic Games employees will soon be without jobs. The report also states that impacted employees will be given six months of severence, health insurance, and accelerated stock vesting. In addition to the layoffs, Epic Games is also selling Bandcamp, which it acquired in 2022, to Songtradr.
The success of Fortnite and the Unreal Engine have driven Epic Games to being one of the biggest companies in the video game industry. The studio also publishes multiple games every year, and operates its own PC storefront, the Epic Games Store. Epic Games has expanded its business in recent years with acquisitions of Psyonix and Mediatonic.
Epic Games joins the chorus of video game companies cutting jobs this week. Yesterday, we learned that Blizzard had let go ten members of its Hearthstone team. This morning, Sega announced that layoffs were coming to the Creative Assembly team after it canceled the upcoming Hyenas game. In other Epic Games business, the company also announced an upcoming price hike for V-Bucks, the virtual currency in Fortnite.