CARY – Epic Games, publisher of the globally popular Fortnite and involved in antitrust lawsuits with both Apple and Google, is laying off hundreds of workers accounting for 16% of its staff, says owner Tim Sweeney.
The news was announced to employees today.
“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. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic,” Epic’s billionaire and majority owner Sweeney said in a memo.
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“While Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion. Success with the creator ecosystem is a great achievement, but it means a major structural change to our economics.”
Sweeney also said Epic will continue its legal fight with Apple and Google – what he calls “Project Freedom.”
Epic has multiple companies and affiliates around the world, including some 2,000 employees in Cary.
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Epic sells two acquisitions (Bandcamp, SuperAwesome) in addition to layoffs
Bloomberg News said in a post Friday that Epic is cutting 870 jobs.
Sweeney said the actual count is 830.
Epic is to build a new headquarters campus in Cary at the former Cary Towne Center mall.
The company has made multiple acquisitions in recent years while also raising billions from investors, including LEGOS.
Epic recently agreed to a record $520 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over ‘unlawful’ privacy, shopping issues.
Epic Games to pay record $520M to FTC to settle ‘unlawful’ privacy, shopping issues
The layoff news came a day after Epic asked the Supreme Court to get involved in its lawsuit with Apple over Apple’s banning of Fortnite from its game store. Epic has sued Google over similar issues.
Epic Games takes antitrust fight with Apple to Supreme Court
