Bloomberg reports that fortnite Developer Epic Games is expected to lay off 16 percent of its workforce, or about 900 people.
In a statement from Tim Sweeney, Epic has confirmed the layoffs. He wrote that the company intends to divest Bandcamp, an independent music company that Epic acquired last year, and spin off SuperAwesome, a “kids technology” company that specializes in creating safe online experiences for kids. He also explains that the layoffs are because the company “spends a lot more money than we make.” Notably, Sweeney does not apologize to his employees for making business decisions that have resulted in the disruption of 900 lives, saying only that his “optimism” that such spending would not result in layoffs was “unrealistic.”
There were rumors that Epic was expected to implement layoffs this year. According Edge reporter Alex Heath, the company was seeking investment and speculating that layoffs as a means to reduce expenses could make it easier to raise funds.
Now that Epic’s layoffs are expected to affect a staggering 900 people, the video game job market appears to be tighter than ever.
