Fortnite maker Epic Games is laying off 16% of its workforce, impacting 870 people
techcrunch.comEpic Games is laying off 16% percent of its employees, impacting about 870 people, the Fortnite maker announced on Thursday. The company also announced that it’s divesting Bandcamp, an online audio distribution platform it acquired last year, and spinning off most of SuperAwesome, a kid-safe technology developer that it acquired in 2020. The layoffs news was first reported by Bloomberg.
“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote in a memo to employees. “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”
Sweeney went on to note that the company had been making ongoing efforts to reduce costs, including moving to net zero hiring and cutting operating spend on things like marketing and events. Despite these efforts, the company ended up “far short of financial sustainability” and that Epic concluded that layoffs were the next logical step. Sweeney says that conducting the layoffs now and on this scale will stabilize the company’s finances.
As for Bandcamp and SuperAwesome, Bandcamp is joining Songtradr, a music marketplace company, while SuperAwesome’s advertising business will become an independent company under the SuperAwesome brand, led by their current CEO Kate O’Loughlin.
“We’re cutting costs without breaking development or our core lines of businesses so we can continue to focus on our ambitious plans,” Sweeney wrote. “About two-thirds of the layoffs were in teams outside of core development. Some of our products and initiatives will land on schedule, and some may not
Read more on techcrunch.com
