Almost exactly a year ago, Epic Games announced a round of mass layoffs for the company that saw over 800 of its staff being let go. A large portion of this number was attached to the music store Bandcamp, which the company also sold off. Now, in a presentation during Unreal Fest 2024, CEO Tim Sweeney said that Epic Games is "financially sound" and executing solidly.
Sweeney said back then that the company's heavy investments in itself and the rapid expansion of Fortnite's metaverse aspects were the cause behind the layoffs, adding that "I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect, I see that this was unrealistic."
2024 has been a much more positive year for the company, according to Sweeney, both financially and in service growth terms.
"Last year's Unreal Fest began with some sad news. The company had to get its finances in order and we just had some major layoffs. We spent the last year rebuilding and also executing solidly on all fronts," he adds during the presentation. "I'm happy to tell you now that the company is financially sound, and that Fortnite and the Epic Games Store have hit new records in concurrency and success."
Over the holidays, Fortnite monthly active users peak had broken the 110 million mark according to Sweeney, beating all previous records. Per Epic Games Store general manager Steve Allison, the store's usage had also gone up to peak at 70 million monthly active users by September 2024, another record.
During the same presentation, Epic announced that the Unreal Engine royalty fee is being reduced from 5% to 3.5% for any game that releases day-one on the Epic Games Store. This change will kick off from January 1, 2025. Note that the games do not need to be exclusive releases, and only requires to launch on the platform the same day they drop on any other store, such as Steam.
The company also recently launched its Epic Games Store platform on Android phones worldwide and iOS devices in the EU. It said its still fighting in courts with both Apple and Google to make the third-party store's installation and accessibility easier and more broadly available. A few days ago, the company also filed a lawsuit against Samsung and Google saying the duo is working together to stifle competition in the Android ecosystem.
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