A couple of days ago, Epic Games laid off over 1,000 employees, with CEO Tim Sweeney blaming "the downturn in Fortnite engagement" – and now, remaining developers are sharing their own reactions to the mass layoffs.
Fortnite gameplay producer Robby Williams is one such dev, taking to an online thread with his thoughts – and it's admittedly a tough read, considering the situation at hand.
"Hey. End of day and I've had some time to process," he writes. "It's been a brutal day at Epic today, and I'm absolutely devastated by the loss of some of the most insanely bright and talented people I've ever had the honor to work with or even just around."
hey. end of day and I've had some time to process. it's been a brutal day at epic today, and I'm absolutely devastated by the loss of some of the most insanely bright and talented people I've ever had the honor to work with or even just around.March 24, 2026
Williams continues, with a heartfelt message about his former coworkers: "I appreciate the outcry of support and empathy that I've seen from the community today, and I just ask that you please show as much love as you can offer to those that were impacted. None of them deserve this and it's not at all reflective of their work or their impact."
He then alludes to the future – one that won't be easy for the remaining staff at Epic Games.
"What comes next is very hard and painful," the dev admits. "Our teams will have to pick up the pieces and try to keep moving forward, but we cannot even fully understand what kind of impacts this will have on the game for the rest of the year and likely beyond."
It's especially difficult to gauge, likely, with Sweeney himself having said Fortnite was suffering from a dwindling community. But, as Williams concludes, folks will do what they can now.
i'll continue to do my best to keep making the best game for you, and i'm confident that my peers feel the same, but please be patient with us as we navigate this tough time and do our best in spite of these truly gut-wrenching losses.March 24, 2026
"I'll continue to do my best to keep making the best game for you, and I'm confident that my peers feel the same, but please be patient with us as we navigate this tough time and do our best in spite of these truly gut-wrenching losses."
As for what the Epic Games CEO has said, aside from his initial words on the matter, he stated the layoffs will result in "a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime quality folks" – which, uh, doesn't exactly help.
According to Sweeney, the company's downsizing "wasn't a performance-based 'rightsizing.'" Regardless, I'd say it stings all the same – and the impact layoffs like this have on the games industry as a whole… isn't great.
