Singapore – Global video games company Epic Games has announced that it is laying off around 16% of its workforce, amounting to around 830 employees. This follows after the company has sold its audio distribution platform Bandcamp to Sontradr, as well as the management team of SuperAwesome acquiring most of the company back from Epic Games.
In a letter sent out by Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer at Epic Games to employees, the company is aiming at cutting costs without breaking development or their core lines of businesses so that they can continue to focus on their plans.
Some of those plans include their upcoming Fortnite Season and Fortnite Chapter 5, as well as Del Mar, Sparks, and Juno.
“Epic folks around the world have been making ongoing efforts to reduce costs, including moving to net zero hiring and cutting operating spend on things like marketing and events. But we still ended up far short of financial sustainability. We concluded that layoffs are the only way, and that doing them now and on this scale will stabilise our finances,” Sweeney said.
Moreover, they also added that they will still continue 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 enterprises.
“For those still at Epic, you’ll hear more from senior leaders about the path forward for your team. Epic’s prospects for the future are strong. We have amazing game experiences across multiple platforms,” Sweeney added.
Epic Games has a presence in Asia through its outsourcing divisions in China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Moreover, multinational conglomerate Tencent has a 40% majority stake in the company.
