Epic Games has confirmed that Fall Guys remains a priority for Mediatonic despite reports of widespread layoffs

Epic Games, the renowned creator of Fortnite, has announced its intention to reduce its workforce by approximately 830 employees, which accounts for roughly 16% of its total staff.

Mediatonic, a company acquired by Epic in 2021 with around 300 developers, has been significantly affected by these layoffs, as reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who first revealed this information about Epic's mass layoffs prior to the official announcement.

"This is not true," said a company spokesperson. "Mediatonic's work on Fall Guys remains a priority for our company."

Extensive staff reductions at Epic were announced in a memo to employees by CEO Tim Sweeney, who stated that these layoffs were necessary for the financial stability of the business.

"For some time now, we have been spending much more money than we earn, investing in the further development of Epic and expanding Fortnite as an ecosystem inspired by the metaverse for creators," he stated.

"I had been optimistic for a long time that we could navigate through this transition without layoffs, but looking back, I realize this was unrealistic.

"While Fortnite is growing again, it is primarily driven by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower-margin business compared to when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and fueled our expansion.

"Success in building an ecosystem for creators is a significant achievement, but it also entails substantial changes in our economic structure.

"Epic employees worldwide have been making efforts to reduce costs, including transitioning to net-zero hiring and cutting operating expenses related to marketing and events. However, we still fell short of achieving financial sustainability.

"We have come to the conclusion that layoffs are the only way, and conducting them at this time and on this scale will help stabilize our finances."