Epic Games, the company behind popular video game Fortnite, is laying off 830 employees or approximately 16 percent of its workforce. The layoffs come amid Epic's ongoing legal battle with Apple, which started way back in 2020.
Just this week, Epic Games asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, a request that follows two major losses and likely hundreds of thousands or more in legal fees. Epic Games has been trying to paint Apple as a monopolist, and it wants to be able to sell digital skins and other goods to Apple customers without having to pay a cut to Apple.
As a result of the legal dispute, Fortnite has been unavailable from Apple's App Stores for several years now, and those who want to play the game on the iPhone or iPad must seek alternate means to do so, such as web-based platforms.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney in a memo sent out to employees and shared on the company's website said that it has been "spending way more money" than it earns to grow Fortnite, and other efforts to cut costs have "ended up far short of financial sustainability."
Sweeney says that layoffs are the only way to stabilize the company's finances. Employees will be provided with severance that includes six months of base pay and six months of paid healthcare.
As for the fight against Apple, Sweeney claims that Epic Games is taking steps to cut down on legal expenses, but will continue on with its legal battles so the "metaverse can thrive and bring opportunity to Epic and all other developers."
Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014.
Q.ai has...
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Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
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Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
epic was warned that they didn’t have much of a case, but Tim Sweeney went ahead anyways. Of course the CEO could’ve taken a pay cut and save those jobs, but guess he decided meh.
Gee! It's almost as if burning billions of dollars on exclusivity deals that don't work, as well as picking a slapfight with Apple over your philosophy of app distribution was a bad idea or something.
We've known since discovery from the trial, all of Epic Games' money problems are because of Tim Sweeney's decision making. He is not a good businessman in the slightest and is ignoring his employees. He needs to go.
