Fortnite Creators Are Getting Paid Millions Despite Epic Layoffs

thegamer.com:

Last week, you may recall that Fortnite creator Epic Games made the news by announcing mass layoffs. Around 830 people lost their jobs that day, which makes up roughly 16 percent of the entire company's workforce. Epic justified the layoffs by admitting that the company had been "spending way more money than we earn" in trying to turn Fortnite into a "Metaverse-inspired ecosystem", claiming that revenue sharing with content creators doesn't make as much cash as when Fortnite originally took off.

Turns out there may be a reason for that, as Epic revealed just how much money Fortnite map creators have been getting at a panel at this year's Unreal Fest event. According to Epic Games, the generous revenue share has meant that over 13,000 worldwide Fortnite map creators have received a total of $120 million since March 2023, meaning the company has dished out some serious cash in the space of just 7 months.

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Of course, that amount of cash isn't that much when you consider Epic is estimated to make $4.4 billion this year, but gleefully announcing on stage that you've doled out so much money to Fortnite map creators just days after having laid off hundreds of employees is not a good look. If anything, this should be cause for concern, as it implies that Epic is trying to gets fans to do the work of regular employees without the benefits that a contract for a big developer would bring, such as potential health benefits or a dedicated pay day.

To make matters even worse, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney took to the stage shortly after this massive number was announced, specifically addressing the layoffs to mention how necessary they were in order for