Epic Games, the company that makes the billions-earning Fortnite, publishes games, and has its own PC game storefront which has apparently been losing money for years, is laying off over 1,000 employees today. The cuts come as part of what Epic CEO Tim Sweeney calls a “downturn in Fortnite engagement,” resulting in the battle royale crossover game spending more money than it’s making. A year ago, Sweeney seemed pretty confident that Epic could keep spending money on its legal case against Apple and Google over mobile microtransactions, and here we are with the company behind one of the most successful, lucrative games in the current video game industry landscape, kicking workers to the curb. It sounds like this has come as quite a shock to those affected.
Evan Kinney, a former principal engineer at the company who worked at the company since 2017 and was even called the “backbone and spirit” of Fortnite by fans, posted on X that he had recently been working on Fortnite’s new Rivalry system while recovering from pneumonia, and was told over the past few days that his work was appreciated by “multiple directors.”
i have done so much for this company and our games
so many late nights
so many weekends
so many live events, and competitive events, and new features, and new seasonssolid performance reviews every time
with multiple people mentioning how critical i am and what an impact i…— Evanosaurus “Unrawrl Engine 5.7” Rex (@evankinney) March 24, 2026
Devon Adesso, a test lead on Fortnite, says she had filled up a notebook with work notes just yesterday, and is now looking for whatever’s next. She’s not the only one, as more and more former Epic employees report that they’re on the job hunt.
Sadly I was impacted by todays layoffs at Epic. Still processing as I just found out like 20 minutes ago.
Probably going to jump straight into the job hunt… if anybody has any leads for Environment Art roles I would greatly appreciate it. https://t.co/UMLcTXhHuo
— George Sokol (@GeorgeSokol) March 24, 2026
Unfortunately, my role was impacted. 7 years on Fortnite now wrapped up. Lots of good people looking for new jobs today. If you know of any that fit my skillset, please let me know https://t.co/OTaVvzV32P
— Stephen Thompson (@TheStevieT) March 24, 2026
Some who weren’t affected have posted that they’re still at Epic, but those posts kind of read like someone marking themselves “safe” after a natural disaster.
Still employed but holy shit this industry is in a rough state. https://t.co/b8nzCjbbKL
— Kyle Wynn (@KyleTheWynner) March 24, 2026
thank you to those who have reached out, sorry I have not replied to everyone.
my role at epic games is safe but my heart is torn apart. there are no words.. https://t.co/m6fEpmISBt
— Samantha Ragsdale (@MajorasMidna) March 24, 2026
Rough news, to say the least.
My position was not impacted, but many of my incredibly talented coworkers, colleagues and friends were.
There is nothing to say beyond my heart is breaking, and that I will be signal boosting as many of those as I can personally vouch for. https://t.co/APwuoRQOxm
— Nick Shapiro 🐀 (@Dreckerr) March 24, 2026
Other members of the online Fortnite community aren’t giving Sweeney any grace on this, as a game that has been raking in billions of dollars only loses money if there’s mismanagement at the top.
You people are pathetic and I cannot believe I call you my job. https://t.co/04jZDPGQsq
— Queazy (@itsqueazy) March 24, 2026
At some point you have to argue that maybe spending hundreds of millions on a store that no one uses and giving 40% of your entire revenue to UGC map makers every month might actually not be smart https://t.co/FlWMOQOloM
— ben (@bnwkr) March 24, 2026
When will @TimSweeneyEpic notice their metaverse ideal dream is just a fake dream for shareholders that wont last?
Look at all other metaverses, you are trying to be roblox when you cant even hold your own company together
Keep giving slop UEFN maps money to fill that hopeless… https://t.co/2A2A6QqcMl
— Blortzen (@blortzen) March 24, 2026
Epic recently wrapped up a longstanding legal case against Google and Apple regarding in-game purchases, which Sweeney says “is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers,” even going so far as to say that Epic is the “industry’s vanguard” that has “taken a lot of bullets” in the battle. Which, crucially, they did not have to do, but Epic is a tech company of the modern era, which apparently means screwing over the people who make the thing that brings in all your cash in the hopes that you’ll get even more of it later.
