Fortnite is at a crucial turning point. Over the past week, its creator, Epic Games, has undergone major restructuring and cut up to $500 million in costs. These changes follow declining player engagement, as CEO Tim Sweeney says the cuts are necessary to keep the $32 billion company stable. Despite this, Epic Games president Adam Sussman confirms that plans with Disney will go ahead.
In 2024, Epic Games and Disney announced it would give players a new wave of experiences that would leverage Disney’s ownership of Marvel, Avatar, and Star Wars. Fortnite players continue to see the fruits of this collaboration through seemingly endless Fortnite skins based on all of the above, as well as entire seasons dedicated to Star Wars and Marvel events. More recently, a wave of Hercules skins is coming to the Item Shop.
Beyond a general Fortnite Disney crossover, Epic Games is working on Disney games powered by Unreal Engine, the company’s proprietary technology. Speaking to The Wrap amid Epic Games’ wave of layoffs, which is reportedly seeing 1,000 employees leave the company, Sussman says that “We’re committed to building a games and entertainment universe with Disney. The vision is unchanged, and we are excited by our progress.”
Alongside this, Tim Sweeney adds in his memo to Epic’s staff that the company is building up to “huge launch plans towards the end of the year.” Whether that’s in reference to the Disney collaboration is unclear. Recently, Disney replaced longtime CEO Bob Iger with Josh D’Amaro, the former chairman of Disney Experiences. He supports integrating technology into Disney’s future, so a major venture within Unreal Engine would align with his vision for the company.
On that notion, Tim Sweeney’s memo states that “what we now need to do is clear: build awesome Fortnite experiences with fresh seasonal content, gameplay, story, and live events; accelerate developer tools with greater stability and capability as we evolve from Unreal Engine 5 and UEFN to Unreal Engine 6.” However, Fortnite’s upcoming roadmap will likely feel very different. Key talent, including character artist Vitaliy Naymushin, who helped create Jonesy and many original characters over the last 11 years, is one of many caught up in the layoffs.
With fewer developers, shifting leadership dynamics, and high expectations for what comes next, the months ahead will likely define whether Fortnite can reinvent its magic or continue to struggle to maintain it.
