Epic Games is stripping back its metaverse ambitions. On March 24, the company announced it would remove three underperforming game modes from Fortnite later this year, signalling a dramatic retreat from its years-long effort to transform the battle royale into a multi-game platform like Roblox.
Rocket Racing will go offline in October 2026. Ballistic, Epic's attempt at a Counter-Strike-style competitive shooter, shuts down on April 16, just four months after launch in December 2024. Festival Battle Stage, a PVP-focused rhythm game mode added in 2024, follows Ballistic offline the same day. The three modes represent some of Epic's most ambitious post-launch projects for Fortnite, yet they failed to attract the sustained player bases the company needed to justify their ongoing costs.
"We've built a lot of Fortnite modes, and in some cases, we failed to build something awesome enough to attract and retain a large player base," Epic said in an official announcement on social media. "We're grateful for everyone who played."
The shutdowns are the most visible consequence of a deeper crisis. On the same day, CEO Tim Sweeney told staff that Epic would lay off over 1,000 employees, roughly 16% of the company. Sweeney blamed the cuts on a sustained collapse in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025. "The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we're spending significantly more than we're making," Sweeney wrote.
Fortnite remains one of the world's most played games, but scale no longer guarantees profitability. The core battle royale, once a cultural phenomenon with hundreds of millions of players, is struggling to hold attention. Players report declining seasonal content quality, and Epic's various spin-off modes have largely failed to generate meaningful engagement. Fortnite's failure to grow on mobile devices, where billions of potential players exist, has compounded the problem.
Epic is not unique in facing these headwinds. According to Eurogamer, Sweeney cited broader industry challenges: slower growth, weaker spending, current console sales trailing previous generations, and intensifying competition from streaming, social media, and other digital entertainment. Yet Epic's particular squeeze is acute. The company has committed enormous resources to its Unreal Engine platform, Fortnite's creator tools, and experimental game modes that have not paid off.
The cost-cutting extends beyond layoffs and game closures. Last week, Epic raised the price of V-Bucks, Fortnite's in-game currency, drawing player backlash. Sweeney also flagged over $500 million in identified savings across marketing, contractor costs, and unfilled roles. In 2023, Epic had already cut 830 jobs under similar pressure, a cycle that now repeats with greater severity.
For creators who have invested time building content for Rocket Racing, Ballistic, or Festival Battle Stage, the news is demoralising. Epic says it will help migrate some Rocket Racing creator content to standalone islands, and promises to expand Fortnite's creation tools for future FPS modes. Yet the underlying message is clear: Epic can no longer afford to subsidise experimental modes that don't drive engagement or revenue.
Sweeney took care to note the layoffs are not driven by artificial intelligence, a sensitive topic in gaming. Instead, he framed the cuts as necessary to ensure the company's long-term survival. That may be rational from a financial perspective, but it also signals the end of Epic's expansionist era. The company is retreating to what works: the core Fortnite battle royale, its creator platform, and Unreal Engine. Everything else is expendable.