// News // 25th Mar 2026 — 3 months ago // By Artura Dawn

Epic Games Lays Off 1,000 Employees in Latest Bout of Industry Restructuring

On the 24th of March 2026, Epic Games has released a statement in an email sent to its employees. In this lengthy letter, signed off by Tim Sweeney, we learn that 1,000 total staff are being laid off.

The reason for these, according to the official letter, is a "downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025", as Epic has been announcing that numbers and earnings haven't been up to speed with what the team would hope. Once the undisputed king of battle royales that really shook up the industry, Fortnite seems to be unable to keep up with its own title, falling short of expectations at Epic Games.

The letter says that part of the challenges are industry-wide ones, including slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics, calling back to the struggles the videogame industry has been facing. Ironically, the news comes two days after Steam broke a new concurrent user record.

Steam Store Page

According to Mat Piscatella's post on player engagement charts, however, for the US in both Xbox and PlayStation, Fortnite continues to be near the top of the charts. The famous battle royale has only been surpassed for the #1 spot on PlayStation by NBA 2K26, sitting at the #2 spot on Xbox.

This is the second bout of major layoffs that Epic Games has had, with the first being in September of 2023, where the team downsized 16% of its total workforce, and later claimed in 2024 that the team was "financially sound". Fortnite went on to have large success in November 2024 with the return of Fortnite OG, allowing players to pick any one season to replay.

Tim Sweeney also told IGN in January of last year that Epic can afford to keep spending billions fighting the Fortnite mobile lawsuit for "decades to come".

In the blog post of the 2026 layoffs, Epic Games mentions that the team prides itself in hiring only the "industry's best". Hopefully, the 1,000 employees — as the "industry's best" — will find new jobs in the ever-volatile videogame industry, and not more talent is lost to layoffs.