Bloomberg has reported that Fortnite developer Epic Games is expected to lay off 16% of its workforce. In a statement from the CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, he confirmed that the layoffs are expected to impact roughly 830 employees within the company. In addition, Epic Games will be looking to sell Bandcamp, an independent music storefront that the company had only acquired last year, to musical licensing platform Songtradr.
Sweeney went on to state that these layoffs are a direct reaction to Epic “spending way more money than we earn.”It was noted that within this statement, Sweeney does not make any apologies to the more than 800 people set to have their lives disrupted once they are terminated from the company. He did however admit his optimism that such spending would not lead to layoffs was “unrealistic.”
Rumors that Epic Games would begin implementing layoffs were present throughout this year. According to The Verges’ Alex Heath, Epic had been previously seeking investments and speculated that Layoffs would reduce expenses, making it easier to raise a round of funding.
Overall this has been a turbulent time for the video game industry as a whole. Alongside Epic, Embracer Group has similarly done a round of layoffs and cancelation of projects. They additionally closed Volition Studio, the developer of Saints Row, ending their more than 30 years in the industry. Sega additionally has canceled their upcoming 4v4 Live Service game Hyenas, leading to a round of layoffs at developer Creative Assembly.
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