Tim blames Fortnite but I think reason why he's blaming Fortnite is because it's not making enough revenue to cover the absolute money pit that is the Epic Games Store. Wasn't it discovered that Epic was bleeding money like crazy on it the whole Apple v Epic trial? Fortnite was likely the thing keeping those costs sustainable.
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Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, is laying off a whopping 16% of employees (or around 900 people)
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
- Start date
- News Game Dev
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
That 12% cut’s working out great.
OGM_Madness
Member
Maybe they figured out AI tools could do the work of 900 people?
I wonder what areas got fired.
As a huge fan of Rock Band, I wonder how this could impact the life support machine connected to RB4, which is still receiving DLC and still has a Rivals schedule running.
I will only accept the death of RB4 when RB5 gets announced.
I wonder what areas got fired.
As a huge fan of Rock Band, I wonder how this could impact the life support machine connected to RB4, which is still receiving DLC and still has a Rivals schedule running.
I will only accept the death of RB4 when RB5 gets announced.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Varteras
Member
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
I've updated the OP with the latest info including Epic's official statement on the matter.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
Well Tim, this is your problem right here. You put too many of your eggs into the metaverse basket. It was BS when first announced and it will continue to be horseshit from the rear orifice of Marky Mark Fuckerberg.
Don't make bad bets on shitty disabled horses that keel over before they even start the race.
windows admins with leet poweshell skills and other low level dev jobs that chat gpt can do
StereoVsn
Gold Member
- Basically positioning Fortnite as “Metaverse” kind of failed.
- Then bunch of money wasted on EGS which is completely pointless from income perspective
- Tilting at windmills, fighting the 30% Google and Apple fees. Lawyers aren’t cheap at that high end.
- Loss of income from iOS due to above.
Basically a bunch of of stupid decisions leading to the layoffs. Not to mentions unnecessary acquisitions they are dumping.
That said Tim Epic isn’t wrong about layoffs at MS, Google, Amazon and Meta. Most of they were complete bullshit.
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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Meta is a psyop. Best to avoid.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
In the end....apple buys epic 
Interfectum
Member
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Giving away all of those free games trying to compete with steam hasn't helped.
nowhat
Gold Member
Epic bought/owned Bandcamp? Why???
Revolutionary
Member
TIL Epic owns Mediatonic
Would be weird if they shut down Fall Guys before the FFXIV collaboration is out next year
Would be weird if they shut down Fall Guys before the FFXIV collaboration is out next year
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Fbh
Member
Damn that's a lot of people. Hopefully most of them manage to land on their feet.
Kinda off topic but if 16% are 870 people that means epic has like 5400 employees? Do they really need that many?
Damn is there no work protection for pregnant women in the US?
Even my shithole third world country has that (and it's strict to the point that some people abuse it)
Kinda off topic but if 16% are 870 people that means epic has like 5400 employees? Do they really need that many?
Damn is there no work protection for pregnant women in the US?
Even my shithole third world country has that (and it's strict to the point that some people abuse it)
Interfectum
Member
not only did they buy mediatonic they removed Fall Guys from Steam.
Gee wonder why the game fell off a cliff.
GG Timmy. fucking over Mediatonic and more for failed PC store.
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StereoVsn
Gold Member
More like Tencent buys Epic. They already own ~40% I think.In the end....apple buys epic
GetInTheRobot
Banned
Tim Sweeney, a man worth 4 billion + decided today that he needs to layoff close to 1000 people from a company taking in billions a year…this will always be the biggest load of shit in cooperate culture. Laying off employees while you are making profit but not enough profit so your billionaire owners can have a bit more.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
WTF, this can't be real!? All the devs from Mediatonic (Fall Guys devs) laid off?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
EGS dying?
skit_data
Member
Could it be that UE5 is starting to come together and that at this point in time there is no need to be fully staffed in the same way? It does sound like a lot of people though.
One would think that that a sudden influx of developers that abandon the Unity-ship (I can't imagine it not happening to some extent, at least among those that are in the earlier stages of production) would result in them hiring people.
Yeah, that's unexpected af. I might be completely wrong but Fall guys can't be a very resource intensive operation to maintain in relation to its popularity/profitability?
One would think that that a sudden influx of developers that abandon the Unity-ship (I can't imagine it not happening to some extent, at least among those that are in the earlier stages of production) would result in them hiring people.
Yeah, that's unexpected af. I might be completely wrong but Fall guys can't be a very resource intensive operation to maintain in relation to its popularity/profitability?
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BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Wow lmao. I hope the Rocket League guys are ok. Why not just let mediatonic resume as they were before they got acquired?
NickFire
Member
I feel like Fortnite's slower growth or lower profit margins is way too convenient to be the main reason for such a massive layoff. But on the other hand, there has to be a point where kids have enough skins to tide them over since they don't really benefit the player in a meaningful way.
Guilty_AI
Member
rip
Men_in_Boxes
Men_in_Boxes
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
wAlLeD gArDeNs tHonot only did they buy mediatonic they removed Fall Guys from Steam.
Gee wonder why the game fell off a cliff.
GG Timmy. fucking over Mediatonic and more for failed PC store.
IFireflyl
Gold Member
Also you:
All fine except for Diabotical which actually got refunded as they moved their business over to Epic Game Store. Glad I got my money back as that game is pretty much dead now.
I also backed Mavericks: Proving Grounds (for some reason the website is still up) which was a valuable lesson in telltale signs of overpromising and being far too ambitious for their own good. Basically 30eu down the drain as that game got cancelled before it even made it to a decent playable state.
P.S. Let EGS burn.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Looks like not everyone working at Mediatonic were laid off, however, they were still heavily impacted by today's round of layoffs.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Thats techie people for ya. Always online on social media blabbing to prop up their company. And it makes sense because most tech out there is non-essential. It's often times "Hey look at me look at me, I got cool stuff, please buy my gear"
Last Hearth
Member
Two completely separate situations, he made it clear that they are losing money right now.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
It'd be interesting to know what kind of overall profitability Epic has because on Fortnite alone googlng it, they've probably made about $15-20B in sales alone since it came out.
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Tams
Member
To be fair, 900 is peanuts compared to what the other tech companies have been doing.
And it sounds like it's only 650 with Bandcamp and SuperAwesome.
March Climber
Gold Member
Quite a few of the responses in this thread are my weekly reminder that the GAF bubble is a very real thing.
Loads of respect to those of you here actually willing to do the research and run the numbers.
Loads of respect to those of you here actually willing to do the research and run the numbers.
Jinzo Prime
Gold Member
I should have known they would fuck up Bandcamp. I like buying my music and Epic was never a good fit. If they divested, who bought it? Is going to be shut down?
Jinzo Prime
Gold Member
Oops doube post.
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Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
You would think so, but all 4.5 inches of me is erect after I read Tim Sweeney say "Fortnites growth..."rip
