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

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

#511

Post by nickvec »

abcde666777 wrote: post #415
bad_haircut72 wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not entitled to a job, neither is anyone in the capital class entitled to own shit, they own the best houses, all the means of production - they're not entitled to any of that either.

You think they didn't have to apply themselves to be able to acquire those things? They just got it handed to them for free?

> They just got it handed to them for free?

As it turns out for the vast majority of cases: yes. Just look at the ultra wealthy in today’s society and trace back their lineage.

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

#512

Post by johnnyanmac »

fooker wrote: post #491
johnnyanmac wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd hope this community of all places would understand that "just integrate X with Y" is never as simple as "just". It's still something a team needs to do, and the gain is minimal unless Epic is also going to try and make their own console-esque device. That's the incentive for Steam.

Valve started this to have a path towards independence from Windows, just in case Microsoft had locked things down. Not for making devices. The same rationale exists for Epic, and they have spent an enormous amount of resources fighting Google and Apple over this. I think it's an ideological decision rather than a technical one.

Yes, and no.

Yes, it's not the most optimal business decision as a software company to invest in hardware. The clear move is to either grease Microsoft's palms, or let then outright acquire Steam (or Valve as a whole). Valve not doing that is either in part ideological, or part very long term thinking on the best financial path later, instead of now.

But at the same time: while the ends was "be independent from Microsoft", their means at first was very Microsoft esque. Partner up with hardware vendors, make some Pcs with Steam built in, and brand it as such. Didn't work. Their goal had to be to roll their own hardware because that's what was needed to get the ball rolling (as well as a form factor that accompanied a desktop instead of competed against).

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

#513

Post by croon »

mort96 wrote: post #317
Ethee wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still funny to me that they would rather burn 9 figures in cash on these silly deals to try and 'trap' gamers on their platform instead of just... I don't know... making a better platform? The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. It's not that hard, stop trying to 'force' me to use your pl…

> The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. I don't agree. The reason I personally prefer Steam is that all my existing games are on Steam so if I keep buying on Steam I don't have to make and maintain accounts on other stores, if I keep buying my games on Steam I can keep using Steam as my only…

I've rebought games on Steam I had on Epic for free, just because the platform is so terrible. As far as a metric goes, that's pretty clear.

It's definitely not about lock-in for me. It's everything from local streaming, to linux support, to cloud saving working properly, to 100s of other things that become apparent if you try to do anything other than launch a game in a bog standard way on a windows machine.

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

#514

Post by mawadev »

If you look at the technical state of Unreal Engine 5, then how modern GPUs can barely run games without frame generation which also makes them look blurry, then you are not surprised. Its not just gamers but also developers who are fed up with the status quo of how games are done these days. The big use case for UE moved from technical excellence to churning through people who can work on your game for hiring convenience, because you don't have to train them on an inhouse engine. Its unhealthy to have this much fluctuation with hiring people, then if the game fails or succeeds (it doesn't matter), people are laid off anyway.

It is just mismanagement of the money they earned with fortnite, they failed to keep the momentum and stopped taking risks. The technical incompetency doesn't stop with UE5, it shows in the store, which is laughably bad and inefficient since forever. I think its good these people get a new chance to start working for companies who can put their skills and time to good use and value their expertise. Long term nobody working there would be happy with the way the software portfolio is moving downwards.

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

#515

Post by junon »

singron wrote: post #268

Epic's 2019 P&L was published as part of Epic v. Apple. According to that: * Fortnight revenue was $5.5B in 2018 and $3.8B in 2019 * Employee counts in those years: 1063 and 1932 * Average "People" cost per employee: $141K, $142K (CPI adjusted is $182K in 2026). * Average "Production & Hosting" cost per employee: $189K, $150K (CPI $248K, $194K) * Platform royalty expenses were 25% of total game revenue * Slightly und…

Maybe a dumb question but why break down production/hosting as a cost per employee?

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

#516

Post by big-and-small »

2001zhaozhao wrote: post #326
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…

> pulling a Valve > Video games are the exact opposite of Infinite Growth Forever. People get bored and move on. To me, Epic Games were clearly trying to "pull a Valve" and capture the platform magic that allows Valve and other platforms like Roblox to be sustainably profitable. Obviously they have their own game store, but they also have a Fortnite Creative / UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite) platform where people c…

> To me, Epic Games were clearly trying to "pull a Valve" and capture the platform magic that allows Valve and other platforms like Roblox to be sustainably profitable.

Valve have headcount of under 400 people. Obviously they have contractors working creating assets for CS / Data / etc, but company itself is swift and agile.

Epic was around 1000 people at Fortnite release then grown to over 4000.

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

#517

Post by mort96 »

codebje wrote: post #436
mort96 wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. I don't agree. The reason I personally prefer Steam is that all my existing games are on Steam so if I keep buying on Steam I don't have to make and maintain accounts on other stores, if I keep buying my games on Steam I can keep using Steam as my only…

You don't need to move stores, though, do you? Want to play a Steam exclusive? Fine, launch Steam. Want to play an Epic exclusive? Fine, launch Epic. What you do need is to avoid tying your game socialisation to a _store_. Some day, Steam will be enshittified too.

I mostly play games on a computer in my living room. It boots into Steam Big Picture, which I use to launch a game (or sometimes buy new games) using an xbox controller.

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

#518

Post by mikkupikku »

chupasaurus wrote: post #483
mikkupikku wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a glorified wrapper around curl, wine and a webview, a few interns could knock this out in a few months. For "3% market share" (growing every day, thanks to Valve) its a no brainer, but Sweeney has no brain.

That glorified wrapper is made on Unreal Engine.

What's the problem? Wine can handle that fine. Heroic launcher showed that you can easily make an Epic store wrapper and launcher work on Linux.

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

#519

Post by imtringued »

ryandrake wrote: post #462
codebje wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to move stores, though, do you? Want to play a Steam exclusive? Fine, launch Steam. Want to play an Epic exclusive? Fine, launch Epic. What you do need is to avoid tying your game socialisation to a _store_. Some day, Steam will be enshittified too.

But I don't want all these app stores!! The ideal number of app stores I want installed on my computer is ZERO. I don't want to have to load a damn "store" just to obtain and run your game. I am willing to angrily live with ONE store on my computer, Steam, but no way in hell am I going to tolerate having to have an Epic Store and a Microsoft Store and an Activision Store and a goddamn Rockstar Store and an Ubi Store…

I don't know why "zero" is ideal. That means going back to the old days where every single company would need their own launcher.

Having a separate company focus on distribution sounds more ideal.

Epic Games had an opportunity here to erode the app store margins through standardization, instead, they've become a copycat of what they resented with a slightly smaller cut.

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

#520

Post by zvqcMMV6Zcr »

superultra wrote: post #373
Quarrelsome wrote: post #87

> "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…

> Sorry, HOW?!? It's me. I have accumulated several dozen free games over the years through the Epic Store. Sorry Tim Sweeney!

I love the whole "Thank you for adding free game to your account. Do you know you can download our launcher to actually play them?" message.
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