Not long ago, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney had to announce significant layoffs, laying off 16% of the company's employees (about 830 people in total). The news came as a surprise to everyone, as the company has been lining the company's pockets with a ton of revenue from Fortnite and the increasingly successful Unreal Engine licensing program.
The Epic Games CEO explained in a short time that certain parts of the company had become disconnected from their own revenue streams, and when the proverbial golden goose could no longer provide them with revenue, there was no other option but to lay off employees. Of course, in order to attract users and game developers, Epic has also invested heavily in legal battles and Epic Games Store promotions.
Despite this setback, Tim Sweeney doubled down on all of the company's core initiatives without straying from his vision. Just a few weeks later, Epic Games' future looks even brighter.
First, "Fortnite" broke a new player count record during the "OG" season, with more than 100 million players logged into the game in November. This appears to be just the tip of the iceberg, as the recently released Chapter 5 Season 1 and the newly launched LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racer, and Fortnite Festival experiences are driving higher peak player counts.
But for the Epic Games CEO, the biggest victory came a few hours ago, when a jury in the U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of California unanimously ruled that Google's monopoly behavior was invalid. Tim Sweeney, who has long railed against Apple and Google for strangling the Android and iOS landscape, not to mention their hefty 30% fees for any and all purchases made on their stores, launched a massive lawsuit against the two tech giants almost three years ago.
You may remember that Epic Games actually sued Apple for illegal monopoly first. The ruling in September 2021 favored Apple on nine out of ten counts (except for the anti-steering policy), but Tim Sweeney did not stop there.
After defeating Google, he received congratulations from Elon Musk himself, and Sweeney replied: "We are heading to Cupertino."
He also reminded another Twitter user that Epic has appealed the ruling and is waiting to hear back from the Supreme Court.
The founder and largest shareholder of Epic Games also commented on the possibility of competing with Microsoft for an alternative store for mobile platforms. He said he'd rather compete and promised to bring Fortnite to any store (including Steam or the Microsoft Store) that offers a "great deal" instead of the regular 30% fee.
Countless developers hope that Epic Games can successfully force platform holders such as Valve, Google and Apple to lower store fees. Following the EU's Digital Markets Act and this landmark ruling against Google, the path appears to be paved (although in the latter case the remedy will still have to be decided by the courts).