'Fortnite' developer Epic Games cuts 1,000 employees in mass layoffs

Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off over 1,000 employees on Wednesday, cutting a significant chunk of its workforce. In an open letter sent to employees, founder and CEO Tim Sweeney cited financial pressures on the popular multiplayer game as the reason for the layoffs. "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," Sweeney wrote in Wednesday's open letter. "This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place." While Sweeney did not share Fortnite's exact engagement numbers, statistics trackers Fortnite.GG and ActivePlayer.io report that the game's player count has significantly slumped in recent months. For over two years Fortnite's average daily player count surpassed one million every month, reaching a peak of 3.1 million in December 2023. This number fell to approximately 835,000 last September, dropping its average below one million players per day for the first time since June 2023. Player numbers have remained lower than typical in the mont