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Fortnite-maker Epic Games says it is laying off more than 1,000 employees, citing a fall in engagement with its popular online game.<\/p>\n
In a note to staff on Tuesday, Epic’s chief executive Tim Sweeney apologised for the cuts – attributing them to a “downturn” in Fortnite engagement beginning in 2025.<\/p>\n
He said this had left it “spending significantly more than we’re making” and needing to “make major cuts to keep the company funded”.<\/p>\n
It comes after the company recently hiked the price of Fortnite’s in-game currency V-Bucks to “help pay the bills” amid increased operating costs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sweeney’s note to staff, published on Epic’s website,<\/a> said the latest round of layoffs, in addition to $500m (\u00a3373m) of identified cost savings across other parts of its operations, would put the company “in a more stable place”.<\/p>\n He added it was facing both industry-wide challenges such as slowed growth, weakened spending and increased competition for user engagement from other media.<\/p>\n But Sweeney also acknowledged “unique” struggles for Epic – despite the continued popularity of Fortnite.<\/p>\n Among these, he said, were delivering “consistent Fortnite magic with every season” and a full mobile experience for smartphone users, after its lengthy legal battles with Apple and Google to allow the app on their marketplaces.<\/p>\n Fortnite returned to Apple’s US App Store in 2025<\/a>, nearly five years after the iPhone-maker removed it for violating its policies by launching its own in-app payment system.<\/p>\n “In being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers,” Sweeney said.<\/p>\n Epic’s boss also used his letter to ward off any potential speculation about the role of increased generative AI adoption across the industry<\/a> in Tuesday’s cuts.<\/p>\n “Since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI,” Sweeney said.<\/p>\n “To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”<\/p>\n It marks the second time in recent years that the company has laid off staff.<\/p>\n