Epic Games Banks on Disney Characters to Rescue Fortnite Amid Financial Struggles and Massive Layoffs

As we have already reported, Epic Games has faced significant financial difficulties: the once mega-popular Fortnite, like many other Battle-Royale games, is experiencing a decline in interest and no longer generates colossal profits. To cope with the situation, Tim Sweeney's company initiated emergency cost-cutting measures and laid off 1,000 employees in the hope of saving $500 million, and also closed several modes in Fortnite.

Of course, the developer and publisher does not intend to lose its empire, and thanks to Bloomberg, the rescue plan has become known.

What is known

Journalists spoke with current and former Epic Games employees who said most of the problems lie in the insufficiently successful Fortnite updates, the lack of impact from the launch of the EGS mobile app, and overall, the management's slowness in making important decisions.

As often happened before, Disney comes to Epic Games' aid. They have a long-standing partnership, and in 2023, the American media giant invested $1.5 billion in the developer, after which Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar cartoons, and other Disney-owned franchise characters started to appear more frequently, "accidentally," in Fortnite.

According to media reports, by the end of 2026, a new game from Epic is expected to be released — an Extraction-shooter focusing on Disney characters, which will be the "ARC Raiders killer" (the most successful game in its genre). Currently, EG is not sure if such a project will be successful because it lacks originality, but by the release date, developers will try to address its main shortcomings.

Additionally, two more Disney franchise titles are in development at Epic Games, but one received mediocre reviews from testers, and the other lost funding because Disney is annoyed by the partner's slow pace of work. At the same time, remember that, according to other media sources Disney is interested in acquiring Epic Games and is waiting for the "right moment" to do so.

Source: Bloomberg