The American company Epic Games, Inc. is a publisher and maker of video games and software with its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. Tim Sweeney established the business in 1991 as Potomac Computer Systems.
Famous games like Fortnite, the Unreal, Gears of War, and Infinity Blade series are all powered by the Epic Games’ internally built Unreal Engine. The “most successful videogame engine” title was given to Unreal Engine by Guinness World Records in 2014.
Recently, even after Epic tried to reduce operating costs, the company’s efforts fell far short of achieving financial stability, forcing it to turn to layoffs. Epic Games, announced on Thursday that it will let go of 16% of its workforce, or about 830 people, in an effort to cut back on what CEO Tim Sweeney called “unrealistic” expenditure.
Epic Games reportedly laid off the team behind Fall Guys, Mediatonic pic.twitter.com/Tx8vUVsuKR
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) September 28, 2023
Teams outside of core development are where the majority of layoffs are occurring. “We’ve been spending way more money than we earn,” the CEO of Epic Games announced.
The online independent music platform Bandcamp, which Epic purchased last year, will now be acquired by the music marketplace company Songtradr, which was also mentioned in the statement by the CEO.
Epic Games increases the price of V-bucks
In addition to layoffs, Epic Games is also increasing the cost of the in-game currency in Fortnite, citing inflation and currency fluctuations.
This week, Epic Games revealed that it would raise the cost of V-Bucks, the in-game currency used in Fortnite. Character and weapon skins can be bought using V-Bucks, and despite the fact that they are just decorative, Epic has made billions of dollars from selling V-Bucks bundles with licensed skins from Marvel, the NFL, and other businesses.
Starting on October 27, V-Buck bundle prices will increase in the US and a number of other countries, including those in the Eurozone, Japan, Sweden, and Poland.
“These adjustments are based on economic factors such as inflation and currency fluctuations,” according to a blog post by Epic. It further stated that costs have also risen in the UK, Canada, and Mexico.
A basic bundle of 800 V-Bucks will increase in price in the US from $7.99 to $8.99 in a month, while the largest pack of 13,500 V-Bucks will increase in price from $79.99 to $89.99.
The layoffs at Epic Games are only the most recent job losses to affect the tech sector, which was forced to adapt after the incredible expansion that may businesses experienced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic decline.