Epic Games previously announced the layoffs of more than 1,000 people, and CEO Tim Sweeney said the move was because user engagement in “Fortnite” was declining and the company’s expenses were higher than its revenue. After the company laid off employees, Sweeney tweeted to try to calm market sentiment and explain the layoff decision. He said that a large number of high-quality talents will enter the job market in the next few days.
Sweeney said: "Epic has never lowered its recruitment standards during the expansion process. This layoff is not based on performance optimization. People with Epic experience are usually at the top of the industry." His statement quickly triggered ridicule from his peers. A level designer at Arkane Lyon Studio bluntly said that this statement is not as decent as Sweeney imagined. "In this environment, other companies simply have no positions to accept these people. What you are laying off are the best developers."
A senior animator at VOID Interactive said that these words make no sense, "Jobs are extremely scarce now, and most people may be unemployed for six months to a year, or even longer." The head of distribution at Larian Studios believes that this statement is a repackaging of layoffs. "The layoffs are described as delivering top talents to the market, which is essentially just brainless rhetoric on LinkedIn."
Industry data also reflect the grim employment environment. The "2026 Game Industry Status Report" released by GDC shows that 48% of employees who were laid off in the past year are not employed, and 36% of those who were laid off earlier are still looking for work. The report also states that about one-third of gaming workers in the United States have been affected by layoffs in the past two years.
In this context, Sweeney's statement was considered to be out of touch with reality. The industry as a whole is losing talent, and the difficulty of finding a job continues to rise. Many practitioners are beginning to consider shifting to more stable fields. One interviewee said that he had been laid off many times in the past five to six years and had lost trust in the industry. "This experience has left me with a psychological shadow, and it is difficult to fully trust any company again." Another said: "The market environment is too difficult and I am not sure whether I will continue to stay in the gaming industry."