Regardless of incomes an estimated $6 billion in income in 2025, Epic Games has laid off over 1,000 employees because of Fortnite‘s obvious “downturn” in income. This information comes as the sport trade is in turmoil, with layoffs impacting 1000’s of builders throughout quite a few studios. Epic’s final spherical of layoffs lower 830 employees from the corporate in 2023. One particularly unfortunate developer was laid off each instances round.
Melissa Wafful was an early profession program supervisor at Epic for over a yr till she was laid off in September 2023, alongside 829 of her colleagues. This represented 16% of Epic’s employees in a yr when the corporate was estimated to earn $5.6 billion (£4.2 billion) in income. Fortnite was, and stays, one of many greatest multiplayer video games on the earth.
Lower than a yr later, Wafful was rehired at Epic as a mission supervisor, the place she labored for one more two years till the following spherical of layoffs. This time, they affected over a thousand individuals on the firm, regardless of an estimated revenue of over $6 billion (£4.5 billion) final yr – roughly $1.2 million (£900,000) per worker.
Whereas Sweeney says that the layoffs “aren’t associated to AI,” he mentions that Epic has “taken quite a lot of bullets,” presumably alluding to the developer’s pricey lawsuit towards Apple, which got here to a head last year.
Wafful’s LinkedIn profile says she has a ardour for sharing nationwide days and notes in her ‘searching for work’ publish that yesterday was Nationwide Chocolate Lined Raisin Day. She says she must “disconnect” for some time, however can be searching for a job alongside scores of her former colleagues within the coming days.
Trying by the numerous LinkedIn posts and social media messages, the laid-off Epic workers all appear to share a deep love of Fortnite, Epic, and one another. There may be little bitterness, regardless of the circumstances. The layoffs have impacted workers throughout the corporate, from decade-serving veterans to recent faces who’ve been on the firm for lower than a yr. And, for Wafful, it is the second time she’s been laid off by the identical firm in three years.