Fortnite Maker Epic Games Laying Off 830 Employees [IGN]

Epic Games, the North Carolina-based studio behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has suffered a significant round of layoffs.

First reported by Bloomberg, Epic Games is laying off 830 employees, or about 16 percent of its workforce. Epic Games shared a memo CEO Tim Sweeney sent out to staff in a new blog post.

Separately, Epic is “divesting” music service platform Bandcamp and will spin off most of SuperAwesome, a kid-safe technology company. Both were acquired by Epic Games in 2022 and 2020, respectively. Around 250 people are leaving Epic through the divestitures from Bandcamp and SuperAwesome.

You can read the full memo below.

Meanwhile, several employees at Epic-owned Mediatonic, the developer of Fall Guys, have taken to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to announce they have been made redundant as part of the layoffs.

So yeah, it’s looking like I might be getting laid off. If anyone has any Level Design roles going I’d greatly appreciate any pointers or connections ♥️

— Max Boyle 🏳️‍🌈 (@BoyleInThe_Bag) September 28, 2023

Unfortunately, I am one of the people affected by the layoffs today at Epic. I’m absolutely devastated to leave behind so many amazing Mediatonic colleagues who I loved.

So: the job search begins! If you need an experienced writer or narrative designer, please get in touch 🙂

— Ed Fear (@edfear) September 28, 2023

Hello! I’m one of those lucky individuals effected by layoffs 🙂 Looking for positions in design/level design (i have experience in both). If anyone has connections/links/referrals id appreciate it 🩷

— Dorian ❄️ (@doriandotexe) September 28, 2023

Hello all! As you’ve likely seen through the grapevine, I’m now looking for work! My expertise is within QA Technician, automation and SDET based roles. Please reach out if you have any open roles for me!

— Adrian Bennett (@Volks42) September 28, 2023

unfortunately, i’m one of the unlucky people affected by the Epic lay-offs today.

if anyone is looking for an experienced art lead or generalist, ideally in stylized games, please give me a shout ❤️🙏

— Stef (@stefscribbles) September 28, 2023

Founded in 1991, Epic Games is best known for creating Unreal Engine and has developed a long list of games, including Unreal, the first four entries in the Gears of War series, and most notably the free-to-play battle royale game Fortnite.

Fortnite, in particular, has become an extremely profitable game for Epic. In 2021, Fortnite was reported to have generated $9 billion in two years and had 400 million registered users at the time.

News of layoffs comes just weeks after Epic’s Chief Fortnite Architect Donald Mustard announced his departure, with Charlie Wen, a Marvel veteran who helped design God of War protagonist Kratos, replacing him.

Epic Games was embroiled in a legal feud with tech giants Apple and Google. However, Epic lost the case in 2021, with the ruling upheld by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year. Epic recently requested the U.S. Supreme Court weigh in on the antitrust case.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.