Fortnite is one of the biggest successes in the video game industry this decade. Launched in 2017, the battle royale (a genre combining survival and shooting games where the goal is to be the last player standing among a group of opponents) from Epic Games quickly became a phenomenon, especially among younger players. The American studio and distributor claimed to have 650 million registered accounts for its online game. This number does not indicate the actual number of active players, but it gives an idea of the scale of the phenomenon.
The announcement of the layoff of over 1000 people on Tuesday, about 20% of Epic Games’ workforce, has highlighted the challenges faced by this flagship franchise. The layoffs, which the studio’s director and founder Tim Sweeney directly attributes to a “decrease in engagement on Fortnite>, beginning in 2025, [which] forces us to think much more than we earn”. These job cuts are expected to be accompanied by budget cuts of up to $500 million. In September 2023, the company had already let go of 830 employees.
