The company behind one of the most popular and successful games-as-a-service (GaaS) titles has announced a massive number of job cuts today, on March 24. In an official post, Fortnite creator Epic Games says it is “laying off over 1,000” employees, seemingly with immediate effect, though those affected are met with a generous severance package.

You may have thought that Epic could do no wrong with an IP as big as Fortnite, but the company says it is spending “significantly more” than it is making right now. The announcement comes just a couple of weeks after it announced V-Bucks price changes within Fortnite, claiming they were required “to help pay the bills”.

Epic Games announces mass layoff despite Fortnite’s success

Today we’re laying off over 1000 Epic employees. I’m sorry we’re here again. The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded.

[…]

Since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI. To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.

Tim Sweeney, Epic Games CEO and Founder

Epic’s official post is simply signed off with “Tim,” presumably long-time CEO and founder Tim Sweeney. He notes that this isn’t the first time Epic Games has been here, calling back to the company’s battles in the 1990s when transitioning from 2D to 3D games, and the transition to console development with Gears of War.

Sweeney also makes it clear that these layoffs “aren’t related to AI,” which may be something that springs to some people’s minds. A sentiment of anti-AI is pretty strong within the gaming community, and even companies like Capcom have come out to confirm that it won’t use generative AI for game content – that doesn’t mean it won’t be used during dev time, though.

Epic Games employees affected by the mass layoffs face a severance package that covers “at least four months of base pay” and even more “based on tenure”. Epic-paid healthcare coverage is also extended for layoffs.

As far as Fortnite goes, Tim Sweeney, says the team will be pivoting to “fresh seasonal content, gameplay, story, and live events,” all the while continuing development of Unreal Engine 5 and the evolution to Unreal Engine 6. The last time we heard from Sweeney, UE6 was still “a few years away”.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.