Epic Games laid off more than 1,000 employees yesterday, with CEO Tim Sweeney saying it was the result of a significant decline in Fortnite players since 2025, causing expenses to exceed income. This is closely related to the incident of Fortnite being removed from the App Store and Play Store after Epic Games tried to circumvent Apple and Google's in-app purchase (IAP) system.
High legal costs against Apple and Google are also a factor in Epic Games' high losses. After five years of fighting in court, they lost to Apple while the case was recently settled out of court with Google.
The layoffs, as well as contract cuts, reduced marketing, freezing or closing several open positions, will save the company $500 million, according to Sweeney. Despite the large number of employees being laid off, Epic Games will continue to focus on Fortnite with new content offerings and seasonal events. However, three modes in Fortnite, Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Festival Battle Stage, are being terminated to reduce costs.
At the same time, development of Unreal Engine 6 is underway along with adding features to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).
