Epic Games is laying off hundreds of workers. What we know about jobs in the Triangle.
Among the employees let go last week by the Cary-based video game developer Epic Games were 170 workers in the Triangle area, a company report showed.
On Sept. 28, Epic submitted a WARN Notice to the North Carolina Department of Commerce detailing the affected positions. The list included 85 roles each at an Epic office in west Raleigh and at its Cary headquarters.
The federal government mandates companies issue WARN reports when they implement a mass layoff of at least 500 employees.
Epic was cofounded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, who remains its CEO. The company has grown to become one of the most influential private companies in its industry, creating popular games like Fortnite and the widely-used Unreal Engine visualization tool.
In a memo to staff last week, Sweeney announced Epic had cut 16% of its total staff, 830 employees in total. He cited his company’s costly shift toward the metaverse among the causes for the staff reduction.
In Epic’s WARN letter, the company’s chief people officer Monika Fahlbusch wrote, “We are mindful of the difficulties that this closure and layoff poses to employees and the community.”
WARN notices are required in the event of certain plant closures, but Epic is not shutting any local office.
In addition to its Cary headquarters, Epic had more than 40 offices worldwide. The game developer intends to build new headquarters on the former site of Cary Towne Center, which the company has said it hopes to open by 2025.
The list of cut local positions include the director of publishing operations and the director of strategy for the Epic Games Store. Fahlbusch told the state that employees impacted by the layoffs will “continue to receive full compensation benefits through Dec. 1.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2023 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Epic Games is laying off hundreds of workers. What we know about jobs in the Triangle.."
