AA12h ago

Tim Sweeney's saga of follies come back home to roost. And it's not the fault of any of the 1,000 people being shown the door.

PC Gamer: Fortnite producer asks for patience as developers 'pick up the pieces' after massive layoffs https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnite-producer-asks-for-patience-as-developers-pick-up-the-pieces-after-massive-layoffs-we-cannot-even-fully-understand-what-kind-of-impacts-this-will-have-on-the-game-for-the-rest-of-the-year-and-likely-beyond/ #Epicgames

Fortnite producer asks for patience as developers 'pick up the pieces' after massive layoffs: 'We cannot even fully understand what kind of impacts this will have on the game for the rest of the year and likely beyond'

Epic laid off more than 1,000 employees yesterday as CEO Tim Sweeney says the company is still spending more than it's making.

PC Gamer
Show threadmike80512h ago
@AAKL Problem being they haven't had a hit since Fortnite. Kinda like Rovio with Angry Birds as their main property.
Show threadAA12h ago
@mike805 Epic spent loads of money on its Apple witch hunt. And when it finally shoved Fortnite through the gate, it looks like the game's performance didn't match Epic's expectations. It's what I'd call an epic fail. And I doubt letting AI loose in the game is going to save it if microtransactions didn't.
Show threadmike805

@AAKL I've seen people playing Fortnite on a PC, and I have no idea how the heck one would play that on an iPhone.

It looks like it would make a great VR game. They should have got in bed with Meta Quest rather than fighting with Apple.

7:42pmWeb
Show threadAA12h ago
@mike805 Apple has the most coveted ecosystem, so that was the lure, I guess. Epic literally ambushed Apple into a lawsuit, premeditated and all, and managed to get back into the iOS system. But after all that, the layoffs signal a major failure.
Show threadmike80512h ago

@AAKL In general war is bad business. Companies that have concentrated on fighting their competitors in court have not done well. Nor have companies that are under an antitrust cloud due to prior bad behavior.

Make something people want and they will buy it from you. Both Apple and Epic did that well at one time.

Show threadAA12h ago

@mike805 Epic games released a lot of games before 2017, when Fortnite first appeared. After that, it was mostly Fortnite. So, basically, that became the foundation of the business, if you don't count Unreal, which probably is lucrative by itself.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1234106/epic-games-annual-revenue/

Epic Games annual revenue 2026| Statista

Fortnite maker Epic Games' revenue surpassed 5.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

Statista
Show threadmike80511h ago

@AAKL There was a quote something like: When you have a cash cow, go ahead and milk it, but raise a few pigs and chickens too. Cows don't live forever.

Apple did that back when the iPod was the cash cow. Sounds like Epic did before Fortnite.