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Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

reuters.com

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Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#81

Post by lreeves »

shimman wrote: post #31
gonzalohm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone has tried already. EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Epic...

Always thought the hate against EA Origin was unwarranted. They 24 hour no questions ask refund policy back in ~2010 that took steam like 5 years to implement themselves. Outside of being forced to use a game launcher to launch their games, what was the real crime? Not enabling gambling on their platform like steam?

I bought Battlefield 2 and it's DLC and one of the earlier Dirt games on EA Origin and it was an absolute nightmare. My games and the DLC would constantly not be authed in my account and I still have like dozens of support threads in my old mailbox trying to get things working.

At the same time Steam had polished a lot of the rough edges like this for their catalog and other publishers so there's really no excuse. I've never had to open support tickets with any other storefront because the DLC map pack for a game would stop loading while the base game kept working.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#82

Post by mvdtnz »

0pranav wrote: post #64
fidotron wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fairness, someone has to try. We can't rely on GabeN being (relatively) benign without serious competition.

I think the following is the bare minimum to compete with Steam at this point: 1. Store with discoverability, 2. A functional cart feature at launch 3. A wishlist with notifications for discount 4. Relatively high download speeds (500Mbps at least) 5. Friends list and activity feed 6. Achievements 7. An equivalent to steam input API 8. Regional pricing with robust payment options 9. Development/Beta build distributio…

I guess everyone gets different value from different features but I for one would not even notice if Steam removed the overlay, achievements, activity feed, input API or beta distribution. It all seems like bloat to me.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#83

Post by malux85 »

leetharris wrote: post #43
shimman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's enough, the problem is greed. They must perform ritual sacrifices to appease the market gods.

They aren't publicly traded.

Market in this context doesn't necessarily mean the publicly traded markets, it can mean the investor market (and their ability to raise), the financial market (their ability to get loans or other financial products), all of these things are dependent on their overall company performance, which can be manipulated in the short term by mass firing 1k employees so some executive can hit a KPI and get their bonus. Ya know, sociopathic stuff like that.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#84

Post by ericmay »

kotaKat wrote: post #78
shimman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's really strange too. I thought these settlements and 3rd party app stores would lower prices, but prices continue to go up! And now as prices are going up, Epic is also laying off workers? Hmmm.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#85

Post by tombert »

ivraatiems wrote: post #65

I am not Tim Sweeney's biggest fan. I know he and his company have many detractors. Please read this comment with that in mind, because while I don't love them, I also think that as layoff announcements go, this is good. No beating around the bush, explicitly NOT blaming AI, taking responsibility, taking care of those impacted. If you are gonna do it, this is as good as it can get. I think the reality is that Epic go…

I broadly agree, though it does seem like Minecraft has some plot armor here. I think people are still buying and playing Minecraft a lot. I like Minecraft, I play it occasionally, but I guess it's a game that has much more staying power than average.

I though my grievances with Epic are primarily because we never got Jazz Jackrabbit 3.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#86

Post by tombert »

b3lvedere wrote: post #19
pram wrote: post #6

I’ve wondered how much money was burned on Tim Sweeneys quixotic quest to re-create the Steam store. I know a lot of people who would religiously download the “free games” but never spent a cent.

The Epic Games store/browser is awful. I have bought one (insanely discounted) game on it and get all the free games, because i like to collect videogames. But i almost never play them, because the application is super slow. Steam has absolutely the best application, then (with a huge enormous gap) comes Gog, Amazon, Xbox, EA, Ubisoft and Epic at the rock bottom. I don't use Blizzards program, so i can't judge on tha…

Just a note, on Linux at least, if you use the Heroic Launcher, you can get your games from the Epic store without using their awful launcher. You can just run the games through Heroic, which I find less irritating.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#87

Post by Quarrelsome »

> "We're spending significantly more than we're making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded," he said.

Sorry, HOW?!?

How can a company like Epic games with one of the most successful gaming products of the last few decades be losing money with a product that is so mature? Almost every other games developer would love to be in their position on Fortnite but they've somehow turned that into a loss making proposition?!? I'm baffled.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#88

Post by drchopchop »

MisterTea wrote: post #22

There are three other submissions in the queue and likely more on this. I know someone in Epic and they told me that its no secret inside Epic that Roblox is killing them. Why? He told me a story where a neighbors kid came by and wanted to play Roblox but he told the kid he didn't have Roblox. The child replied "It's easy! I'll show you!" and this 8 year old sat at his PC, downloaded a few MB client, signs in, select…

The difference is that Roblox has a thousand "attention stealers" which have enough gameplay and multiplayer fun to keep an eight year old entertained for a long time. Fortnite is just the same recycled concept over and over, with an interface that is difficult for a child on a console. There are a number of Roblox games that are genuinely well-designed and fun, don't let the graphics fool you.

(Also, eight year olds don't have $3 in Robux unless someone buys it for them, so blame the parents as well)

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#89

Post by tombert »

Anvoker wrote: post #80
matsemann wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

I think they're arguing that it should not be up to the companies being nice. Yeah, Epic's layoffs were nice, but a lot of companies give shit or no severance at all.

I've been laid off and I only get paid until the end of the week, and for healthcare the only thing I have access to is overpriced COBRA.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#90

Post by daedrdev »

kgwxd wrote: post #69
b3lvedere wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Epic Games store/browser is awful. I have bought one (insanely discounted) game on it and get all the free games, because i like to collect videogames. But i almost never play them, because the application is super slow. Steam has absolutely the best application, then (with a huge enormous gap) comes Gog, Amazon, Xbox, EA, Ubisoft and Epic at the rock bottom. I don't use Blizzards program, so i can't judge on tha…

> i like to collect videogames Starting thinking of it as collection licenses to maybe install games, assuming the license is still valid when you finally get around to playing it. And your account is still valid. And the servers are still running. And your operating system will still run it. etc. Maybe just get off the train. Your numbers add to the awful business model these games are built on.

What do you think these game companies should do instead? The license lets you make your own copies on your own devices while preventing stealing by people who might make a copy and then resell, which would absolutely happen if allowed.
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