Epic Games Is Laying Off 16% Of Its Staff, And Bandcamp Is Being Sold

(CTN News) – According to a statement released by Epic Games on Thursday, the company will lay off 16% of its workforce, sell its popular music platform Bandcamp, and spin off most of its SuperAwesome services in order to reduce costs.

As part of a memo Epic Games shared on its website, CEO Tim Sweeney said that about two-thirds of the approximately 830 jobs being cut would be “outside core development,” meaning the company is reducing costs without interrupting major plans.

He said Epic, a company that develops and publishes video games such as Fortnite, had been attempting to cut its expenditures on things including marketing and events, but finally came to the conclusion that layoffs are the only way to reach financial stability.

We have been spending much more money than we earn for some time now, investing in the development of Epic Games’ next evolution and expanding Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators,” Sweeney wrote in an email to players.

It had long been my belief that we would be able to power through this transition without laying off any of our employees, but in retrospect I see this was not the case.”

Earlier this month, Sweeney announced that Epic Games would sell its music platform Bandcamp, which it acquired last year, to Songtradr, a company specializing in music licensing.

There is a separate post from Songtradr which states that the company will continue to operate Bandcamp as a marketplace and music community with an artist-first revenue share model.

The advertising business Epic Games has for SuperAwesome that offers kid-friendly services will become an independent company under the SuperAwesome brand, according to Sweeney.

This is the latest in a growing list of job cuts in the tech industry, which has been struggling with slower growth rates and higher interest rates since earlier this year, contributing to the layoffs at Epic Games.

The company is privately held, with an important minority stake owned by Tencent, a Chinese company. As of 2022, the company was valued at more than $30 billion.

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