Epic Games Cuts 1,000 Jobs Amid Fortnite Decline

Epic Games, known for the massive live-service hit Fortnite and the widely-used game development tool Unreal Engine 5, revealed plans to cut over 1,000 jobs on March 24 due to “industry-wide challenges” and a decline in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025. This announcement was shared through a blog post on Epic’s official site.

In the post, CEO Tim Sweeney highlighted familiar issues that have plagued the gaming industry in recent years: “Some of the challenges we’re facing are industry-wide challenges: slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics; current consoles selling less than last generation’s; and games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment.”

Sweeney also provided more context regarding the struggles of Fortnite, stating, “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.” Notably, Epic reported a revenue of $6.01 billion in 2025.

The post also touched on Epic’s ongoing legal dispute with Apple, which revolves around the company’s efforts to reinstate Fortnite on the App Store without incurring a cut of sales. Sweeney noted, “Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic with every season; we’re only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimizing Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers.”

This announcement follows Epic’s recent decision to increase the prices of Fortnite’s in-game currency, V-bucks, which took effect on March 19. In a blog post regarding the price hike, Epic explained, “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills.”