GRcade

Epic Games, the mega publisher, has sacked 830 staff due to "spending way more money than we earn". The number of people laid off represents around 15% of Epic's total workforce.

It appears that quite a number of these affected worked at Mediatonic - the Fall Guys developer - which Epic bought in 2021. It really makes you wonder about the longer-term benefits of being purchased by a big company; well, beyond a few owners getting loads of cash, anyway.

You can read more on the situation at Eurogamer and Push Square.

Edit: This thread was originally called "Epic Games sacks 830 staff" but, in order to expand the thread to highlight all video gaming companies that are sacking staff, it was renamed to "The game industry sacking staff thread" on 2 October 2023.

Edit: No... the title needs to be broader. Video game companies - not all of them, but many of the major ones - treat their staff terribly and so I've renamed the thread to "Video game companies are bad". All bases covered .

I feel bad for them

Is there any indication if Fortnight is losing players?

Hope Mocky’s alright.

jiggles wrote:Hope Mocky’s alright.

Mocky still has his job but a lot of people he knew and worked with at Mediatronic are gone. I wonder if they're as happy about being bought out now. Sucks so strawberry floating hard, strawberry float Tim Sweeny.

Also there's this (it's a thread on twitter) - the Hatoful Boyfriend creator hasn't recieved a single penny since Mediatronic were bought by Epic.

twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1707612392388206597

jiggles wrote:Hope Mocky’s alright.

twitter.com/Dentist64/status/1707427745288831172

It sounds like Mockmaster is okay in terms of not being one of the poor folk who have been laid off; but the guy is having to deal with the situation that plenty of close colleagues have.

The fact that they literally only bought out Mediatonic a year or two ago and then fired a ton of their staff is so horrific.

Qikz wrote:The fact that they literally only bought out Mediatonic a year or two ago and then fired a ton of their staff is so horrific.

A reminder that when a large company aquires a smaller studio its not to integrate them and make a big old happy family, it's to aquire and exploit their IP for the lowest price and they'll be shut down quickly.

Here's hoping those affected can find good, secure jobs quickly.

jawa_ wrote:Epic Games, the mega publisher, has sacked 830 staff due to "spending way more money than we earn". The number of people laid off represents around 15% of Epic's total workforce.

It appears that quite a number of these affected worked at Mediatonic - the Fall Guys developer - which Epic bought in 2021. It really makes you wonder about the longer-term benefits of being purchased by a big company; well, beyond a few owners getting loads of cash, anyway.

You can read more on the situation at Eurogamer and Push Square.

Well, that was the "market disruptor" strategy they chose.

Crazy how this is one of the best years in gaming in terms of releases yet the worst year in terms of situation of those working in the industry.

ITSMILNER wrote:Crazy how this is one of the best years in gaming in terms of releases yet the worst year in terms of situation of those working in the industry.

People at the top of the pile are still raking in the dough whilst those a bit further down are getting kicked and sacked. The gaming industry is a bit like football; there has never been as much money washing around but it's only the top few percent of people that are really benefitting from it.

jawa_ wrote:

ITSMILNER wrote:Crazy how this is one of the best years in gaming in terms of releases yet the worst year in terms of situation of those working in the industry.

People at the top of the pile are still raking in the dough whilst those a bit further down are getting kicked and sacked. The gaming industry is a bit like society; there has never been as much money washing around but it's only the top few percent of people that are really benefitting from it.

FTFY

jawa_ wrote:

ITSMILNER wrote:Crazy how this is one of the best years in gaming in terms of releases yet the worst year in terms of situation of those working in the industry.

People at the top of the pile are still raking in the dough whilst those a bit further down are getting kicked and sacked. The gaming industry is a bit like football; there has never been as much money washing around but it's only the top few percent of people that are really benefitting from it.

Time for some gameswashing. Get the Saudi's in!

Been a terrible few days!

Jeez I'm so sorry, Mocky.

Thanks man. Never experienced anything like this. Heartbroken for alot of my colleagues.

The fact that you know full well Tim Sweeney will be getting a nice, big bonus at the end of the year as well makes it even worse.

Hot on the heals of Epic Games sacking 830 staff, there are rumours that Team 17 are the next gaming company to be making some staff redundant; this will be the second wave of sackings the company has undertaken this year. VG247 reports that one of the CEOs and "tens of staff" are to be laid off.

I'm wondering if the gaming industry could be facing big challenges over the next year, with steeper pricing points and higher subscription costs arriving at a time when much of the consumer sector is struggling with general economic conditions.