Discussion on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47503239
Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
71–80 of 584 posts
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#72[flagged]
Take it to Reddit.
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#73[deleted]
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#74The CEO is worth 7B+. 1000 employees at 100k/yr would cost him 100M - less than his net worth fluctuates on any given day and only 20% of other costs savings they have identified. Executives care little about the stakeholders: the employees, the customers, the community. It's their company, too. They only care about investors and themselves. People who "own" pay a lower tax rate than those that "work". Let's fix that…
I think you should reconsider the cost there. $100k/yr is likely well under the average for the people they're letting go. In addition, pretax salary represents only a portion, say 2/3 or so very roughly of what it costs a company to have an employee. Benefits packages and payroll taxes can cost a huge amount too.
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
They aren't publicly traded.
You're right they don't have a board and definitely weren't punished by both the FTC/DOJ for anti-trust and manipulative business practices. Just a small mom and pop shop that somehow seems to elude themselves from the typical braindead MBA playbook of ruining lives to justify their shitty business decisions. Hopefully the beloved indie game studio can navigate these waters successfully! Lots of sharks out there that…
Amen.
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#76[deleted]
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is 25% of their workforce; this isn't some sort of greed thing it's a serious cut to the companies operational ability due to the downturn of their product line. Maybe he could destroy his wealth to keep the employees around a bit longer but it's better for everyone if they move on and the company has a legitimate opportunity to survive. Besides people don't want to be on corporate welfare anyways, they'd rather…
>Besides people don't want to be on corporate welfare anyways, they'd rather be part of a company where they can add meaningful value. Funny. Those companies don't seem to be hiring. Everyone is doing layoffs. Maybe you said that wrong? People running companies don't feel obligated to employ, therefore everyone is now Someone Else's Problem.
As far as I can tell job postings in software are up this year. Executives love expanding, it's the most exciting part of the job. While there are many sectors inside software which may be doing better/worse, I can say my company is hiring, and I have no trouble getting interviews elsewhere if I want them.
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#78Quite stunned that Fortnites 5bn per year isn't enough to keep them going. They've been pull about that much in per year since 2019 AFAIK. I really hope this one have knock ons for Unreal Engine or lead to Unity like licensing. Their indie grants are also quite generous.
Of course it's enough, the problem is greed. They must perform ritual sacrifices to appease the market gods.
They just hiked VBucks prices too... conveniently after they "won" their settlement with Google that includes a full on anti-disparagement clause against Google but fully allows them to keep on attacking Apple as much as they wish.
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#79Often when I see layoffs like this, I can't help but think "Wow that company has so many employees and yet, in practice, does so little". This perhaps a rather uncharitable sentiment, but I can't help but have it.
Yes, Unreal Engine keeps getting improved, more Fortnite content gets produced. But there is a general lack of innovation, one that I find personally painful when I look at Epic's recent-ish track record. Needing to fire this many employees is not just a result of market conditions, but also a straightforward consequence of not being able to leverage them for sufficiently lucrative outcomes.
Companies with this amount of capital are well positioned to take multiple strategic bets which aren't at all safe bets, but pose no real financial risk for the company in aggregate. Why do these bets end up being taken instead by indies with much more to lose? Well, partly because indies often _need_ to take riskier bets to carve a niche. But the other side of the coin is, what I can only surmise, a lack of imagination and adventurousness on the part of management. They could be funding many experiments and seek to have another hit like Fortnite, perhaps in a somewhat different market. Having to seek another hit while your finances are declining is less pleasant.
When a company loses its edge in this way, as long as it hasn't _really_ captured a demographic or created some very sticky ecosystem, it's bound to get whittled down repeatedly. I doubt that Epic will suddenly get more creative and adventurous at this point, but perhaps necessity will have its part to play.
(Aside from all of that, I agree with most commenters here that the layoff is being handled about as gracefully as one could reasonably hope.)
Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls
#80As far as layoff packages go, this is pretty good. 6 months health insurance and at least 4 months pay. The last 2 layoffs I experienced were just 1 week pay for every year you worked there and zero extended health benefits. And they made sure to note that they didn’t have to pay out anything at all, legally. The wording of the announcement is better than the usual corporate non-speak too.
> they didn’t have to pay out anything at all, legally. And still the overwhelming sentiment on HN is that unions are worthless.. When my company had layoffs the laws (thanks to the unions) made it favorable to us without needing the goodwill of the company. Additionally, representatives from the union were involved in all steps and made sure everything went as it should.
Were unions involved in Epic's layoff?