Has Epic Games permanently tarnished its image? That’s the question manyare asking following the announcement of 1,000 layoffs at the American company.
Social media quickly erupted in response to the scale of the purge initiated by Epic Games. Among those laid off are leading developers who have shaped Fortnite over the past few years.
For instance, lead engineer Evan Kinney, known to fans of the game for overseeing events and numerous systems in Fortnite, was let go overnight after nearly nine years of loyal service. The same goes for marketing manager Stephen Thompson and environment artist George Sokol. In addition, lead writer Nik Blahunka, who had been with Epic for over 10 years, was also fired.
Despite the situation, Tim Sweeney, the company’s CEO, did not remain silent and spoke out on social media… Although his statement seems to downplay the gravity of the situation.
“In the coming days, employers will see a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime quality folks. An important thing to understand is that Epic never lowered our hiring standards as we grew, and the layoff wasn’t a performance-based “rightsizing” as companies call it nowadays. It’s a sound bet that anyone with Epic Games on their resume is in the top few percent of their discipline.”
Finally, content creator Typical Gamer has offered to sell Fortnite Ballistic to Epic Games before it closes on April 16.
