Epic Games is laying off over 1000 employees due to the continuing decline of Fortnite over the past year, the company confirmed in a March 24 blog post. Alongside these layoffs, some of the popular Fortnite game modes, including Rocket Racing, Festival Battle Stage, and Ballistic, are also getting shut down.
The news comes less than a month after Fortnite increased the price tags on V-Bucks purchases, sparking outrage within the game’s community.
While mass layoffs have become an increasingly common trend in the industry amid the rise of AI, Epic Games has claimed that today’s layoffs aren’t related to AI whatsoever. “To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can,” the company said in a statement.
Despite being one of the most popular games in the world, Epic attributes the latest cuts to a decline in player engagement since early 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,” the official statement reads. “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.”
As stated by Epic, the staff members who have been laid off in this wave will receive severance packages including at least four months of base pay, with additional compensation based on tenure.
Additionally, the company is also extending its Epic-paid healthcare coverage, with U.S. employees receiving six months of paid benefits. Epic will also accelerate stock option vesting through January 2027 and extend equity exercise windows for up to two years.
Needless to say, for one of the world’s most popular video games, layoffs tied to a decline in player engagement are certainly striking to see. At the same time, the broader decline in the overall popularity of battle royale titles over the past few years can’t be denied either, as certain other genres continue to take their place in the online gaming ecosystem.
