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Epic Games Cuts More Than 1,000 Jobs as Fortnite Engagement Falls

Epic Games said a Fortnite engagement downturn that began in 2025 contributed to cuts affecting more than 1,000 employees, alongside over $500 million in identified savings.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Epic Games announced on March 24, 2026, that it was laying off more than 1,000 employees. CEO Tim Sweeney said a decline in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025 had left the company spending significantly more than it earned. Epic also identified more than $500 million in savings from contracting, marketing and closing some open positions.

How many Epic Games employees were affected?

Epic’s March 24 announcement said it was laying off “over 1000” employees. The Associated Press reported that Epic had 4,000 employees after the cuts and characterized the layoffs as about 20% of its workforce. Those workforce figures are AP’s reporting; Epic’s statement did not give a percentage.

The cuts follow a previous large reduction in 2023. AP reported that Epic laid off 830 employees then, about 16% of its workforce at the time. The percentages use workforce sizes from different dates, so they describe the scale of each round against its own reported denominator.

Why is Epic Games laying off employees?

Epic’s stated Fortnite and financial pressures

Sweeney attributed the financial pressure in an employee note to a downturn in Fortnite engagement that Epic said began in 2025: “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.” This is Epic’s explanation; the cited reports do not independently quantify the engagement decline or establish its effect on revenue.

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Epic did not publish a percentage decline, player count, or time-spent figure alongside the announcement. The available reporting therefore establishes what the company said about engagement, not the size of the change as an independently measured statistic.

Industry conditions and company-specific challenges

Epic also pointed to broader headwinds: slower growth, weaker spending, tougher cost economics, current console sales below the previous generation, and competition with other forms of entertainment for people’s time. The company described its own challenges as difficulty delivering consistent “Fortnite magic” each season, an early-stage return to mobile, and the cost and risk of acting as an industry vanguard. These are management’s explanations, not separately quantified findings in the cited coverage.

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The Associated Press similarly described the mobile return as early-stage after Epic’s court battles with Apple and Google over app-store payments. That context does not change the attribution: Epic named mobile as one of its challenges, while the cited reporting does not assign a specific share of the layoffs to it.

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What other cost savings did Epic identify?

Alongside the job cuts, Epic said it had identified more than $500 million in savings from contracting, marketing and closing some open roles. Sweeney said those steps would put the company “in a more stable place.” Epic did not break down the total by category.

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TechCrunch reported that Epic raised V-Bucks prices the week before the announcement and quoted the company saying “the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot.” The timing and statement provide context on costs, but do not establish that the price increase caused the layoffs.

Did Epic say AI caused the layoffs?

No. Sweeney explicitly said the layoffs “aren’t related to AI.” That is Epic’s statement about the decision; the cited sources do not independently assess the role of AI in individual positions.

What support did Epic promise affected employees?

Epic said affected employees would receive at least four months of base pay, with additional pay based on tenure, and extended Epic-paid healthcare coverage. For U.S. employees, the company specified six months of coverage. It also announced accelerated stock vesting through January 2027 and up to two years to exercise stock options.

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