Over 1,000 Epic employees were laid off today due to a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” that left the company “spending significantly more than we’re making.” The mass layoffs are an attempt to cut costs in various departments, with CEO Tim Sweeney pointing to issues like slower growth, less spending, and better games existing.
Okay, he said “games competing for time,” but let’s be real: Fortnite is not what it once was. This is at no fault of the fired employees, including some pretty prominent figures in the scene. It’s because of Tim Sweeney.
Alas, he remains at Epic while thousands are let go.
There are many issues with Fortnite, and with battle royales in general. I’ve argued in the past that Fortnite is not even a real esport. It’s a game full of luck and randomness. It’s a game that has always seemed to care more about casual players and collaborations than competitive integrity. Remember Epic claiming that B.R.U.T.E. mechs were good for the game because little babies can feel good if they finally get a kill with them?
Sweeney clearly saw the discourse surrounding Fortnite and felt that the path forward was more collaborations, more crossovers, and apparently a “metaverse.” Many believe it was this idea of a metaverse that convinced Donald Mustard to leave his role as “loremaster” in 2023.
Mustard saw the metaverse as a community: “There was no one there saying, ‘Well, Spider-Man’s allowed to this, and Batman’s only allowed to do this. And Barbie can’t hang out with Spiderman.’ I’m like, I want to create something where you can hang out with your friends and express yourself however you want.”
This included live events like the Travis Scott concert — things that brought gamers together to hang out. But Sweeney was moving away from this kind of stuff and Mustard felt a lot of the magic was lost.
Sweeney envisioned separate worlds. He brought LEGO Fortnite, Fortnite Festival, and Rocket Racing to the Fortnite universe. Instead of a competitive battle royale, he wanted people to play these random game modes. Game modes that have now been cut from Fortnite after the layoffs because they suck and get fewer players.
When Mustard first left, fans were distraught: “Mustard had great vision for the game and the suits ruined it like everything else they touch with their greedy hands.”
Meanwhile, we kept getting hints of some Disney thing inside of Fortnite. A $1.5 billion investment will soon bring us a massive universe within Fortnite full of Disney and Pixar stuff. It’s been a few years of “waiting,” and the layoffs only complicate things. Sweeney’s metaverse thing is killing Fortnite, players are leaving, and now Disney has to push through, I guess.
Instead of focusing on the gameplay, any possible competitiveness, or anything of value to gamers as they age, Sweeney is continuing to shove as many collaborations into the game as he can. It’s just about the money to him, clearly. There is no magic in a bunch of in-game advertisements for upcoming movies and shows. It’s cringe. There are too many. It doesn’t feel special or exciting or interesting. You don’t see anyone freaking out anymore when a Fortnite collab is leaked. Of course that thing is in Fortnite.
Everything is.
And if it’s not, maybe someone can make it with Unreal Editor For Fortnite (UEFN). This allows you to build and create games directly in Fortnite, which brands love to do. You’ll see mid experiences within Fortnite for basically every brand that wants to target children. Nike’s “Airphoria” has you searching around for sneakers in the clouds. Like… C’mon.
I haven’t even seen anyone talk about the Fortnite Championship Series this year at all. If I didn’t use Google, I’d probably just assume it’s canceled. There are millions on the line this year, so I get why players are competing. But nobody is really paying attention to this at all. Name six active Fortnite players. Name some kids in the leaderboard. You can’t. You probably can just name some random collaborations that happened in the last few months.
Fortnite is just an interactive advertisement. It’s just a platform for companies and brands to target kids. The battle royale aspect – and anything competitive – is not important to Sweeney or anyone else. The game is definitely dying, with Sweeney laying off pretty important people for some reason. The employees do not matter. The gamers do not matter. Only the metaverse matters, and he will destroy Fortnite to make it happen.