Many Staffers at Mediatonic Were Laid Off — What Does This Mean for 'Fall Guys'?

The gist:

• Epic Games laid off about 16% of its staff in late September due to overspending.
• Rumors began swirling that all of the staffers at Mediatonic, the developer of Fall Guys, were laid off.
• Though these rumors are false, many were affected, but Epic Games claims it doesn't plan to shut the game down.

It's been a rough year for employees in the video games industry. Though 2023 has seen some massive hits and amazing ports, those behind the games are struggling with job security.

Since Fall Guys was acquired by Epic Games, the developer behind popular battle royale Fortnite, the game has seen plenty of transformations — but the recent layoffs at Epic may suggest even more change is on the horizon. Is Fall Guys shutting down?

In late September, Epic Games announced that it would be laying off more than 800 employees in what CEO Tim Sweeney said was a result of "spending way more money than we earn."

“I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic," he wrote in an internal memo shared by Polygon.

Fall Guys developer Mediatonic was purchased by Epic Games not long after its commercial success in 2020, seeing millions of players flock to the wacky battle royale before it became free-to-play. Though Tim claimed that "two-thirds" of the layoffs that happened at Epic Games were “outside of core development," rumors began swirling that the entire team at Mediatonic was part of the layoffs — suggesting the game's days may be numbered.

"Is Fall Guys even going to be a thing? Why would I risk my money to buy anything anymore," one player replied under a tweet from the official Fall Guys account promoting its recent collab with Spongebob.

Though the social media team at Mediatonic has often been candid and personable on Twitter, it's been suspiciously silent following the recent layoffs, not replying to players' tweets.

Despite many staffers at Mediatonic being let go during this round of layoffs, there are still some still on the development team, as Epic Games confirmed to Kotaku that claims otherwise were "false."

"While it's true that Epic Games-owned Mediatonic (Fall Guys) was hit very hard by today's mass layoffs, reports/rumors that the entire studio was shuttered are not true," Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier tweeted.

Reportedly, the development studio started as a team of about 300 employees, and though it's currently unclear just how many of them were let go, it's suspected that the Fall Guys developer was hit particularly hard.

Despite some worries and false claims, it seems that Epic Games has no plans to end the first-party battle royale. In a follow-up email sent out to those still at Epic Games, the CEO confirmed that its core titles would continue to be invested in.

“We aren’t cutting any core businesses, and are continuing to invest in games with Fortnite first-party development, the Fortnite creator ecosystem and economy, Rocket League and Fall Guys,” he wrote, per Kotaku.

At this time, it's unclear what changes we may see to the Epic-led games in the coming weeks following these layoffs. Epic Games is currently estimated to be worth $31.5 billion, with CEO Tim Sweeney being one of the primary shareholders of the company.