CARY – Epic Games is cutting 830 jobs and selling two subsidiaries in financial cutbacks but its owner and CEO Tim Sweeney says the technology company’s legal fight against Apple and Google over antitrust issues will continue.

In a publish series of comments about the state of Epic after the layoffs were announced, Sweeney said what’s called “Project Liberty” will continue.

“We’ve been taking steps to reduce our legal expenses, but are continuing the fight against Apple and Google distribution monopolies and taxes, so the metaverse can thrive and bring opportunity to Epic and all other developers,” Sweeney said.

So the “Free Fortnight” logos seen as part of Epic’s campaign to overcome being banned from the Apple and Google app stores will continue to be seen.

On Wednesday, Epic took its case against Apple to the Supreme Court.

In an FAQ about the state of the company going forward, Sweeney added:

What does this mean for Epic’s priorities?  

  • We are still focused on shipping our must succeed initiatives: the next Fortnite Season and Fortnite Chapter 5, Del Mar, Sparks, and Juno. Their schedules remain in place.

  • We aren’t cutting any core businesses, and are continuing to invest in games with Fortnite first-party development, the Fortnite creator ecosystem and economy, Rocket League and Fall Guys; and services for developers including Unreal Engine for games and enterprise, Epic Games Store, Epic Games Publishing, Epic Online Services, Kids Web Services, MetaHuman, Twin Motion, Quixel Mega Scans, Capturing Reality, ArtStation, Sketchfab and Fab.

  • We are divesting from Bandcamp and spinning off most of SuperAwesome.

  • We’ll have a long company meeting later in October to talk about all of our efforts and priorities.

What was the scope of the layoffs?

  • We are laying off around 830 employees, or 16% of jobs. About two-thirds of the layoffs were in teams outside of core development.

  • Around 250 people are leaving Epic through our divestitures from Bandcamp and SuperAwesome

  • We’re cutting costs without sacrificing development or lines of businesses so that means business functions are disproportionately impacted compared to development functions.

Will there be more layoffs? 

  • No. These changes financially stabilize the business.

  • The entire goal of this process was to make our cost structure more sustainable and we believe that we have achieved this.

Will Epic continue hiring? 

  • Yes. We will continue hiring for critical roles, while maintaining net-zero at our new size.