‘Our Teams Will Have to Pick Up the Pieces’ — Fortnite’s Remaining Staff Say They ‘Cannot Even Fully Understand’ the Mass Layoffs Impact on the Game This Year ‘And Beyond’

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Fortnite staff who survived yesterday’s mass cull of workers say they’re unable to comprehend the impact on the game’s future this year “and beyond.”

Yesterday, Epic Games announced it was making 1,000 team members redundant. In a statement, Epic boss Tim Sweeney blamed the job losses on the company “spending significantly more than we’re making” amid a downturn in interest in Fortnite — despite it remaining one of the most popular games in the world.

In the hours that followed, numerous veteran Epic Games employees took to social media to confirm they were among those impacted. This includes senior and long-standing members such as design director Christopher Pope, principle engineer Evan Kinney, and lead writer Nik Blahunka — all of whom had worked on Fortnite’s gameplay, live events and story for years.

Vitaliy Naymushin, a character art director who designed some of Fortnite’s earliest characters including its default mascot Jonesy, was also laid off. As was Devin Connors, the long-standing community manager at Rocket League studio Psyonix.

Reflecting on the losses via a post on social media, Fortnite gameplay producer Robby Williams described yesterday as “a brutal day at Epic” and that “what comes next is very hard and

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