Nearly a year ago, Epic Games faced a significant workforce reduction, resulting in the layoff of over 800 employees. A substantial number of these layoffs were connected to the company’s music platform, Bandcamp, which has since been sold. However, during the recently held Unreal Fest 2024, Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, announced that Epic Games is now “financially sound”and managing operations effectively.
At that time, Sweeney attributed the layoffs to the company’s substantial investments in itself and the rapid expansion of Fortnite’s metaverse features. He reflected on this decision, stating, “I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect, I see that this was unrealistic.”
According to Sweeney, 2024 has proven to be a much more optimistic year for the company, both in terms of finance and growth in services.
“Last year’s Unreal Fest started with unfortunate news regarding our layoffs, but we have dedicated the past year to rebuilding and executing well across all fronts,”Sweeney shared during the presentation. “I’m pleased to report that the company is financially secure, with Fortnite and the Epic Games Store achieving new records in user concurrency and overall success.”
Sweeney revealed that during the holiday season, Fortnite reached a monthly active user peak of over 110 million, surpassing all past records. Additionally, Steve Allison, general manager of the Epic Games Store, stated that the platform saw usage soar, reaching 70 million monthly active users by September 2024, which is also a record.
In the same presentation, Epic Games unveiled a reduction in the Unreal Engine royalty fee, lowering it from 5% to 3.5% for any game that launches on the Epic Games Store on day one. This adjustment will take effect starting January 1, 2025. It’s important to note that games do not have to be exclusive to the Epic Games Store; they simply need to launch on the platform concurrently with any other store, such as Steam.
Furthermore, the company has recently expanded its Epic Games Store to Android devices globally and to iOS in the EU. Epic continues to fight legal battles against Apple and Google in a bid to simplify the installation and accessibility of its third-party store. Recently, Epic filed a lawsuit against Samsung and Google, claiming the two companies are collaborating to hinder competition within the Android ecosystem.
Leave a Reply