Epic Games lays off around 830 employees

Epic Games has confirmed that it will lay off approximately 830 employees and sell Bandcamp and the majority of SuperAwesome to cut costs.

The details:

• Bloomberg first reported the layoffs, which were later confirmed in a publicly released email sent to company employees by CEO Tim Sweeney. Sweeney explained in the message that Epic has been "spending way more money" than it earns as it expands the Fortnite ecosystem, despite the game making noticeably less revenue than it did at its peak.
• Sweeney claims that despite Epic's "ongoing efforts to reduce costs," such as reducing hiring and spending on events and marketing, the company is still "far short of financial sustainability." The executive believes that laying off such a large number of employees now will "stabilize" the company's finances.
• Around 830 employees will be affected, with all receiving six months of base pay as part of their severance package, as well as six months of free healthcare in the US, Canada, and Brazil. Where possible, Epic will also provide career transition services and visa assistance, and the company will "accelerate people's stock option vesting schedules through the end of 2024 and are giving two additional years from today to exercise the options.”
• Approximately 250 employees will be laid off as a result of Epic selling off the music distribution platform Bandcamp to Songtradr after acquiring it in 2022, as well as spinning off most of SuperAwesome with its advertising business becoming independent.
• Fall Guys developer Mediatonic was hit "very hard" by layoffs, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, though he has stated that reports of the studio being shuttered are false.

More gaming news:

• Sega has canceled Creative Assembly's extraction shooter Hyenas, and layoffs are likely at the studio. According to the publisher, the decision was made after an internal review prompted by the "lower profitability of the European region.”
• Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, believes game streaming will "take off" within the next decade, comparing the current disdain for cloud gaming to how Netflix's transition to becoming a movie streaming service was frowned upon in the 2000s.