Tim Sweeney says Epic Games is now 'financially sound' after last year's layoffs and Bandcamp fumble

Tim Sweeney speaks at the 2024 Unreal Fest in Seattle.
(Image credit: Epic Games)

Like so many tech companies, Epic Games grew aggressively at the start of the 2020s and then suddenly declared that it had made a mistake. The Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker cut over 800 jobs last year and maimed and sold off Bandcamp, a website it had purchased just a year earlier.

"For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators," Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said at the time. "I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic."

At an event for Unreal Engine developers today, however, Sweeney declared that the ship has been righted.

"We spent the last year rebuilding and really executing solidly on all fronts," said the CEO. "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."

Fortnite's new peak, achieved over the holidays, was 110 million monthly active users, Sweeney said. The Epic Games Store also reached a new peak with 70 million monthly active users in September, according to store GM Steve Allison.

Also during today's Unreal Fest presentation, Epic announced a new incentive to get game developers onto the Epic Games Store, but it's one gamers should have less of a problem with than the usual timed exclusivity deals. 

Epic already takes no Unreal Engine royalty fees on Unreal Engine games purchased through the Epic Games Store (when using Epic's payment processing). But even for sales made off EGS, such as on Steam, it will now reduce the Unreal Engine royalty fee from 5% to 3.5% so long as the developer also released the game on EGS on day one. That applies to any platform where both the game and EGS exist: For lots of games that'll just be PC, but Epic now also has mobile versions of EGS in certain regions, and continues to fight with Apple and Google over its desire to sell mobile games without paying their fees.

The PC exclusivity deals aren't completely over: Epic still offers 100% revenue share for six months when games launch exclusively on EGS. But with even Ubisoft finally giving up on exclusivity and going back to day one Steam releases, it does feel like the Epic exclusive era of PC gaming is fading into the past.

Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

Read more
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, looks at the camera.
Tim Sweeney says Epic is losing billions fighting Apple and Google because it can afford to, jokes that 'we might run into serious financial problems after a couple more decades'
Epic Games logo behind the Epic Games Store
Epic gave away nearly 600 million games in 2024, and it's 'not slowing down' for 2025
v-bucks
Fortnite has 58 creators that got paid over $1 million in 2024, and 7 of those made over $10 million
BRAZIL - 2021/10/12: In this photo illustration the Unity Technologies logo seen displayed on a smartphone on the background of a keyboard. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
2 years into Unity's long downward spiral, even more employees are being laid off as CEO says it's still 'stretched across too many products'
Tim Sweeney
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are 'pretending to be Republicans' to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately 'rip off consumers and crush competitors'
Chai, the protagonist of Hi-Fi Rush, sits slumped against a console with his eyes dulled.
It's still grim out there, even if you aren't AAA: Industry report claims that 1 in 10 respondents were laid off in 2024—with 'narrative' roles taking the biggest overall hit
Latest in Gaming Industry
Discord Social SDK
Your Discord friends list may soon appear directly in the games you play
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Geralt, two swords on his back, in the wilderness
2011 was an amazing comeback year for PC gaming
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close
Valve soldier man on a pc.
2024 was Steam's 'best year ever' of users buying newly released games—but I wouldn't celebrate the end of the forever game era just yet
Latest in News
Sans, from the hit 2015 RPG undertale, folds his arms in a dashing suit as stonks rise in the background.
You can grab Undertale for less than $1, as the genre-defining indie RPG beats its all-time player peak for the first time in 10 years
Key art for the new Age of Empires 2 expansion showing an angry Viking and Japanese warlod.
Age of Empires 2 team continues to cook while delivering 'legendarily long' 8,000-word patch notes about 'the biggest updates' the 26 year-old game has ever had
Max, protagonist of Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Double Exposure, stares with trepidation at something off-screen with her friend.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure reportedly a 'large loss' for Square Enix, says analyst, who adds: 'The company's IP fundamentally varies too much between good and bad'
R.E.P.O. screenshots
'REPO is fun': Lethal Company creator recants their criticism of the new co-op horror game after trying to move a grand piano through a mansion
A "sensor-actuator–coupled gustatory interface chemically connecting virtual and real environments for remote tasting," or essentially a virtual reality tongue in an artificial mouth
Would you like to taste fish soup in VR? Me neither, but this electronic tongue does it anyway
Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro gaming mouse on a blue background
The DeathAdder V3 Pro is currently so cheap it's put the usually more affordable HyperSpeed version out of a job