Is Fortnite Shutting Down? 3 Modes Closing

Is Fortnite shutting down? Today, we’ve had some grim news from Epic Games. Fortnite isn’t shutting down but we’re seeing massive cutbacks. Most impactfully, with Fortnite layoffs hitting a ton of employees at Epic.

These current changes come after they announced a price hike to V-Bucks. Along with a new season launching, that got some of the worst first day player numbers a season has had for years. However, the excuse that it’s because of rising costs for the game just doesn’t ring true when hundreds of millions are being handed out to creative map makers. And Epic is paying people who typed a prompt into an Ai website to licence Fortnite collab skins. What’s changing with this news?

If you were a fan of one of the lesser Fortnite maps, you might be losing a key mode to play. The bigger news is Fortnite layoffs meaning more than a thousand people are losing their jobs. The second round of extensive layoffs. This is what’s changing:

Fortnite Layoffs Hitting Over 1,000 People

The biggest part of the Fortnite layoffs we’ve seen announced is that Epic is laying of more than 1,000 people. These layoffs come after a wave just a little earlier, making two years in a row of sweeping layoffs from Epic. All while CEO Tim Sweeney has publicly cited the escalating costs of his lawsuits against other platforms as a strain on costs.

The CEO said they’d have to worry if the lawsuit costs continued for decades. A year after that quote, another thousand people have lost their jobs and Epic have hiked prices alienating a ton of their players.

These layoffs have included employees who are well known in the Fortnite community. People instrumental in Fortnite esports getting fixes and even behind new systems like the Rivalry mechanic in the latest season. So is Fortnite shutting down might be no, but we could see a real impact from these changes. The people who made Fortnite the success it is are losing their jobs.

It’s getting increasingly difficult to defend Epic Games when their public statements on finances seem wildly contradictory. Their bills are too high and they have to fire thousands of peoples. Yet they can afford to hand millions to copycat map publishers, give away GPUs to the most prolific Fortnite cheaters this season, and payoff one of the world’s most expensive actors to return to a role.

Fortnite Engagement is Dropping

These Fortnite layoffs are going to mean a much-reduced team working on Fortnite. While some games are getting cut, it might impact the core title too. It’s silly to think wave after wave of layoffs wouldn’t have impact on the game.

They’ve cited the “downturn in Fortnite engagement” as the reason behind it. The game has definitely suffered in its player count. Although, it remains one of the most popular games or forms of entertainment by any measure we have. Although, the idea that Fortnite alone could sustain a ridiculously expansive engine, their push into special efforts tools, and the constant lawsuits maybe had to give at some point.

Ultimately the core Fortnite game is Epic’s profitable product. It’s this that supports everything else. Some of those side projects in Fortnite will be closed down soon too.

is Fortnite Shutting Down? Modes Closing

Some Fortnite modes will be closing up soon. If you’re wondering is Fortnite shutting down, the main game is fine. However, other modes are leaving.

Rocket Racing is first on the chopping block. This mode has been dead for a while so it’s not a big shock. Seeing the whole thing get remove and become unplayable is surprising though. We won’t see anything of Rocket Racing survive in a few weeks. Next is Festival Battle Stage, which was pretty much abandoned by Epic a little after release. The same for Ballistic which is also going. All three modes will be shut down.

These will be removed in April. It cuts the available modes down quite a bit. Although, Epic still supports a ton of game modes. Quite a few have minor play counts, even Fortnite Ranked is below some dead modes. These seem safe for now, but it seems the Metaverse modes are immune to Fortnite layoffs.

Increasingly, fans are pointing the finger at those metaverse modes. Largely unwanted creative maps that have watered the game down and Epic pays hundreds of millions for their playtime. Few of these have accomplished anything unique. But it seems Epic is ploughing ahead with its Roblox clone plan, weather they have to shut down modes, do Fortnite layoffs to long-standing staff, or anything else.