back to article Epic cut: Fortnite games maker culls 16% of staff

Fortnite founder Epic Games said on Thursday that it intends to lay off 16 percent of its staff, around 830 people, and has also sold its stake in Bandcamp and a marketing company focused on appealing to children.  Epic CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed the plans in an email made public today. In it, Sweeney justified the cuts by …

  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Unreal

    Epic could shrivel up and die and few would weep because it seems to have buried its own history.

    Not only was the Unreal series cancelled, now you apparently can't even buy any of the Unreal games. I can't find them on GOG, Steam or Epic's own game store. Unreal is now a game engine and that's it.

    So Epic can go to hell.

    1. Electric Panda

      Re: Unreal

      I remember being aghast and disappointed at how bad Unreal Tournament 3 was. UT2003 and 2004 were absolute legendary games, but UT3 was a disaster - it performed really badly and just wasn't fun.

      Hence the franchise died, but the engine that bears its name lives on. I think the reason there isn't a brand new Unreal Tournament game these days is probably because of Fortnite, and the old UT formula seeming perhaps rather old fashioned these days.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Unreal

        As I understand it, it's absolutely because of Fortnite. At least one more UT game was in development but it was cancelled some time after Fortnite blew up.

        Totally bizarre to then bury your own history, though.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Unreal

          I thought I saw a new Quake game on Steam this weekend that was new.

          1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

            Re: Unreal

            Quake isn't and never has been an Epic Games property

    2. Sudosu Bronze badge

      Re: Unreal

      I thought Epic's deal, at least for their games store, was to provide more money back to the developer community than Steam does on each sale.

      If they do, I can't really hate them too much, but I'm not sure that is still the case.

      ** I found a reference from a few years ago; it looks like Steam was scraping 30% and Epic was taking 12% off the top of each sale.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Unreal

        I don't think we should deceive ourselves; Epic offers better store terms to attract developers. The moment the Epic store reaches critical mass, the fees are going up.

        For some reason I'd forgotten about Epic's store, but it looks like the Unreal games aren't available there either. I think that settles it. Even worse, "Unreal" is now the name of a minigame editor for Fortnite...

  2. breakfast
    Stop

    Please, not Bandcamp

    Bandcamp has been a lifeline for musicians for years now, pretty much the only place you can consistently get paid a fair amount for your work. I'm not saying that selling it to these randos is a bad idea, but they are just some randos, who knows what their deal is? The chances of it being asset-stripped and torn to pieces have to be fairly high.

    It's a serious challenge, of course. If I was running something so vital to so many people and someone guaranteed to wreck it, like Amazon or Google, offered enough money to buy my freedom, that would be incredibly hard to turn down. I hope that I could, but it's hard to say for sure.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Please, not Bandcamp..looks good

      This looks like a close shave escape for Bandcamp . They were only acquired last year and Epic were exactly the sort of screw-ups to destroy a successful company like Bandcamp.

      The guys buying Bandcamp, Songtradr, look like a very good fit. Run by a music producer with a funding profile that does not look like yet another Dot Com scam company. They look profitable and recently raised some cash so I'd guess that went to buy Bandcamp. By all accounts Songtradr sounds like good guys to deal with.

      So looks like Bandcamp should be OK. If they stayed with Epic they would have been destroyed sooner rather than later. Being acquired by big stupid companies with even stupider senior VPs will kill great small companies. Every time.

  3. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
    WTF?

    a marketing company focused on appealing to children.

    Why does something like this exist?

    How does something like this exist?

    There is really no God

  4. Electric Panda

    At this point I can easily see Epic doing literally nothing except Fortnite and the Unreal Engine itself. What other actual complete games have they shipped lately?

    Even Gears is no longer made by Epic Games and got farmed out.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      A free third party one every week

      That must be costing a pretty penny, those other devs won't agree unless they're getting paid a decent amount.

      While I've enjoyed quite a few games "free on Epic", I can't help but wonder how many millions it costs them.

      1. RichardBarrell

        Re: A free third party one every week

        In 2021, a snapshot became publicly available of what the giveaways cost up to September 2019. Epic published this document for some reason related to the court cases against Apple. https://kotaku.com/heres-what-epic-paid-to-give-away-all-those-free-games-1846815064

  5. gnasher729 Silver badge

    Would Apple have to allow epic on its store?

    Apple and epic are surely not best friends, so if all the court cases are over, and Apple has no interest to let epic on its stores (very understandable), could anyone force them to do business with epic?

  6. ecofeco Silver badge

    Fortnite?

    Is this the same Fortnite in the recent debacle of green-washing global warming? Aimed specifically at kids?

    Oh dear.

  7. itsyammer

    Although the news of the layoffs is tough I think Epic Games and its amazing crew will continue to go forward. Although change might be difficult, it frequently presents new opportunity. I'm hoping for the best for everyone impacted and looking forward to seeing what Epic Games accomplishes next!

    1. lamb_win

      Totally get it, tough times, but I'm betting on Epic Games and their awesome crew to pull through. Just like in greyhound racing, change can flip the odds and open up new doors. Cheers to everyone finding their way and pumped to see what Epic Games does next, like watching those greyhounds zoom towards victory!

      1. itsyammer

        Absolutely, I'm right there with you rooting for Epic Games! Quick question though, what exactly is "greyhound racing"?

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