If I heard half of these words coming from anyone in management, I would begin working on finding a new place of employment immediately. I have to wonder what portion of these employees were visa...
investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators
If I heard half of these words coming from anyone in management, I would begin working on finding a new place of employment immediately.
I have to wonder what portion of these employees were visa holders that didn't have a lot of opportunities after seeing the writing on the wall.
Is Fortnite still popular? I mean, I know it's a big title still, but I feel like I don't hear as much about it anymore as I did in the past. Is its popularity waning? I'm not into BRs, but I...
Is Fortnite still popular? I mean, I know it's a big title still, but I feel like I don't hear as much about it anymore as I did in the past. Is its popularity waning? I'm not into BRs, but I still hear about PUBG.
I do a lot of my job using the Unreal Engine, so while I don't pay a lot of attention to Fortnite I do notice some things. Most recently, Epic released UEFN (Unreal Engine Fortnite Editor). This...
I do a lot of my job using the Unreal Engine, so while I don't pay a lot of attention to Fortnite I do notice some things.
Most recently, Epic released UEFN (Unreal Engine Fortnite Editor). This is a version of the Unreal Engine tailored specifically to create content within the existing Fortnite platform. In addition, a lot of the presentations at UnrealFest next week in NOLA are centered around how to use it. This signals to me that Epic is leaning hard into it and see it as a strategic move to help generate more unique content for their most popular platform. I do not pay close enough attention to Fortnite and it's community to judge if this is a good idea but clearly Epic thinks it is.
I use Unreal to create educational VR experiences, as well as create content for Virtual Production in LED volumes. So while Epic is most known for Fortnite, they have their Unreal fingers in a lot of other pies. UE is also used quite a bit in the architecture and auto industries.
So while I recognize that a lot of Epic's revenue and a lot of the development within UE itself is a direct result of the rise of Fortnite, I do think they have diversified themselves. If Fortnite drops in popularity Epic will definitely have to adjust and probably downsize quite a bit, but I wouldn't be worried about their long term survival.
Walk into a Walmart and look around the toy aisles. There will be more Fortnite merchandise than Minecraft, including half of the Nerf products. Fortnite isn't popular with adult gamers at all,...
Walk into a Walmart and look around the toy aisles. There will be more Fortnite merchandise than Minecraft, including half of the Nerf products. Fortnite isn't popular with adult gamers at all, but it's basically the game children care about, and it's a massive micro-transaction machine.
Last I checked, they were pulling in billions in revenue per year.
I have absolutely no idea on the current popularity. I am just a relatively risk averse person and the entire strategy seems extremely high risk to me.
I have absolutely no idea on the current popularity. I am just a relatively risk averse person and the entire strategy seems extremely high risk to me.
Why would that be a red flag? It's important to remember what "metaverse" means in relation to Fortnite - it's been things like "live" concerts or movies where players can watch together. This...
Why would that be a red flag? It's important to remember what "metaverse" means in relation to Fortnite - it's been things like "live" concerts or movies where players can watch together. This isn't spawning a new, expensive hardware division like Meta did - it literally just implies that they'll continue to make content in Fortnite that doesn't involve the standard video game modes.
From an outsiders perspective, I think that they are leaning too hard on systems that were built and used extensively over the past few years that will not stand the test of "normalcy" A lot of...
From an outsiders perspective, I think that they are leaning too hard on systems that were built and used extensively over the past few years that will not stand the test of "normalcy"
A lot of video game companies and online collaboration companies had huge spikes of usage from 2020 to 2022 and there are definitely some residual users, but I don't see the trend line going up very much in the long term.
But, like I said, I am an outsider to those platforms. My opinions are less relevant than their sales numbers. It just seems like a risky business move.
But is it risky? If they add more concerts to Fortnite and they flop, it's fairly easy to just cut it off, financially. Sure, you wasted some engineering time, but not too much either - it's not...
But is it risky? If they add more concerts to Fortnite and they flop, it's fairly easy to just cut it off, financially. Sure, you wasted some engineering time, but not too much either - it's not like the concert is more complex than the main game mode. Unlike Meta, you're not investing in an entirely new hardware line. You're adding non-normal game modes to a game.
As @stu2b50 mentioned, their angle on "metaverse" isn't as radical a business strategy as Meta (they changed their goddamn company name 🙄). So while there's risk involved, I think it's fairly...
As @stu2b50 mentioned, their angle on "metaverse" isn't as radical a business strategy as Meta (they changed their goddamn company name 🙄). So while there's risk involved, I think it's fairly reasonable.
In addition, Fortnite itself was wildly, insanely popular years before the pandemic. I'm sure they saw their own surge from it, and this layoff is likely some course correction as normalcy slowly reasserts itself, but I don't think that game is in danger of going away anytime soon.
The new owner of Bandcamp is Songtradr, who also own 7digital and are basically the last bastion of buy and own music instead of streaming it. IMHO the true problem is that vast majority of people...
The new owner of Bandcamp is Songtradr, who also own 7digital and are basically the last bastion of buy and own music instead of streaming it.
IMHO the true problem is that vast majority of people don't want to pay for the music, they prefer the streaming approach, and thus Bandcamp model is very, very hard to sustain.
Hope it survives though, the whole Postrock genre is there.
Agreed. I refuse to stream and have all my music on local storage. If it's on Bandcamp/DRM-free, then I'll buy it and gladly support the business model+artist. I can't trust streaming services to...
Agreed. I refuse to stream and have all my music on local storage. If it's on Bandcamp/DRM-free, then I'll buy it and gladly support the business model+artist. I can't trust streaming services to drop music due to changes in loicenses/publishers. I essentially treat it like youtube playlists my friends made back in 2008 in which most videos have been taken down.
Shame that the vast majority of people don't feel this way. But I can understand streaming is much more convenient to juggling files across devices/etc.
I think most people use streaming for discovery, and then when they find something good they pick up a physical copy. Vinyl is back on top again. Bandcamp makes it easy to sell that sort of merch...
I think most people use streaming for discovery, and then when they find something good they pick up a physical copy. Vinyl is back on top again. Bandcamp makes it easy to sell that sort of merch through their site, so they've definitely got the right idea - and you get the .flac masters with the purchase which is the way it should be. That's something Spotify can't do. Bandcamp also provides a way for artists to get feedback. They have the beginnings of a music lover social group over there, though they haven't really leaned into it as well as they could.
Songtradr will also make it easy for people to license the music that's already on bandcamp for use in youtube videos, motion pictures, video games, and anything else they want through a simple digital checkout, even with business-based subscription plans for mass licensing. That will drive more revenue to the artists and to Bandcamp. Songtradr seems like a good place for them to have landed. The founder and CEO is a chart-topping musician/producer himself, so even the C-level execs there are music heads. It's almost too good to be true, honestly.
I don't know many who buy physical. It's just offlined from Spotify. How else do you listen whilst commuting? Like sure one could own mp3s but it's not the done thing by most. I know my experience...
I don't know many who buy physical. It's just offlined from Spotify. How else do you listen whilst commuting? Like sure one could own mp3s but it's not the done thing by most.
I know my experience is all anecdotal but I just wanted to give some anecdotes in counter. I'm sure some is generational with me being in my 20s.
I'd argue that's the casual listener variety who are just using streaming as a replacement for radio. The cratediggers are still pumping billions every year into physical media, existing Vinyl...
I'd argue that's the casual listener variety who are just using streaming as a replacement for radio. The cratediggers are still pumping billions every year into physical media, existing Vinyl plants can't even cope with the demand which is leading to even more of them being brought back from the dead. This trend includes the latest generation of listeners, it's seeing an unbelievable growth rate across younger demographics.
It's not hard to see why. Vinyl gets you a better mix and immunity to the loudness wars by virtue of the physical format - try to crank up the 'mix volume' there and you just bounce the needle off the record. It's also easier to store and far more gorgeous to look at than those insipid jewel cases that creak and break all the time. It has a scent, like books, but unlike CDs.
How far that goes we'll have to see, but literally no one ever thought it could come back like it has already with double digit growth rates every year. It went up 17% last year alone which is a truly insane resurgence for any kind of physical media.
If I heard half of these words coming from anyone in management, I would begin working on finding a new place of employment immediately.
I have to wonder what portion of these employees were visa holders that didn't have a lot of opportunities after seeing the writing on the wall.
Is Fortnite still popular? I mean, I know it's a big title still, but I feel like I don't hear as much about it anymore as I did in the past. Is its popularity waning? I'm not into BRs, but I still hear about PUBG.
I do a lot of my job using the Unreal Engine, so while I don't pay a lot of attention to Fortnite I do notice some things.
Most recently, Epic released UEFN (Unreal Engine Fortnite Editor). This is a version of the Unreal Engine tailored specifically to create content within the existing Fortnite platform. In addition, a lot of the presentations at UnrealFest next week in NOLA are centered around how to use it. This signals to me that Epic is leaning hard into it and see it as a strategic move to help generate more unique content for their most popular platform. I do not pay close enough attention to Fortnite and it's community to judge if this is a good idea but clearly Epic thinks it is.
I use Unreal to create educational VR experiences, as well as create content for Virtual Production in LED volumes. So while Epic is most known for Fortnite, they have their Unreal fingers in a lot of other pies. UE is also used quite a bit in the architecture and auto industries.
So while I recognize that a lot of Epic's revenue and a lot of the development within UE itself is a direct result of the rise of Fortnite, I do think they have diversified themselves. If Fortnite drops in popularity Epic will definitely have to adjust and probably downsize quite a bit, but I wouldn't be worried about their long term survival.
Walk into a Walmart and look around the toy aisles. There will be more Fortnite merchandise than Minecraft, including half of the Nerf products. Fortnite isn't popular with adult gamers at all, but it's basically the game children care about, and it's a massive micro-transaction machine.
Last I checked, they were pulling in billions in revenue per year.
I have absolutely no idea on the current popularity. I am just a relatively risk averse person and the entire strategy seems extremely high risk to me.
Why would that be a red flag? It's important to remember what "metaverse" means in relation to Fortnite - it's been things like "live" concerts or movies where players can watch together. This isn't spawning a new, expensive hardware division like Meta did - it literally just implies that they'll continue to make content in Fortnite that doesn't involve the standard video game modes.
Which seems perfectly reasonable to me?
From an outsiders perspective, I think that they are leaning too hard on systems that were built and used extensively over the past few years that will not stand the test of "normalcy"
A lot of video game companies and online collaboration companies had huge spikes of usage from 2020 to 2022 and there are definitely some residual users, but I don't see the trend line going up very much in the long term.
But, like I said, I am an outsider to those platforms. My opinions are less relevant than their sales numbers. It just seems like a risky business move.
But is it risky? If they add more concerts to Fortnite and they flop, it's fairly easy to just cut it off, financially. Sure, you wasted some engineering time, but not too much either - it's not like the concert is more complex than the main game mode. Unlike Meta, you're not investing in an entirely new hardware line. You're adding non-normal game modes to a game.
It's ultimately not much of a departure.
As @stu2b50 mentioned, their angle on "metaverse" isn't as radical a business strategy as Meta (they changed their goddamn company name 🙄). So while there's risk involved, I think it's fairly reasonable.
In addition, Fortnite itself was wildly, insanely popular years before the pandemic. I'm sure they saw their own surge from it, and this layoff is likely some course correction as normalcy slowly reasserts itself, but I don't think that game is in danger of going away anytime soon.
Sincerely hope Bandcamp won't be negatively impacted by this
Same. Looks like they were sold to Songtradr a business-to-business music licensing platform
Yesterday's thread about this https://tildes.net/~games/1av3/layoffs_at_epic_games_about_830_employees_16
Was wondering when the Fortnite gravy train was ending. Surprised they own Band camp (please be the next owner be someone decent)
The new owner of Bandcamp is Songtradr, who also own 7digital and are basically the last bastion of buy and own music instead of streaming it.
IMHO the true problem is that vast majority of people don't want to pay for the music, they prefer the streaming approach, and thus Bandcamp model is very, very hard to sustain.
Hope it survives though, the whole Postrock genre is there.
Agreed. I refuse to stream and have all my music on local storage. If it's on Bandcamp/DRM-free, then I'll buy it and gladly support the business model+artist. I can't trust streaming services to drop music due to changes in loicenses/publishers. I essentially treat it like youtube playlists my friends made back in 2008 in which most videos have been taken down.
Shame that the vast majority of people don't feel this way. But I can understand streaming is much more convenient to juggling files across devices/etc.
I think most people use streaming for discovery, and then when they find something good they pick up a physical copy. Vinyl is back on top again. Bandcamp makes it easy to sell that sort of merch through their site, so they've definitely got the right idea - and you get the .flac masters with the purchase which is the way it should be. That's something Spotify can't do. Bandcamp also provides a way for artists to get feedback. They have the beginnings of a music lover social group over there, though they haven't really leaned into it as well as they could.
Songtradr will also make it easy for people to license the music that's already on bandcamp for use in youtube videos, motion pictures, video games, and anything else they want through a simple digital checkout, even with business-based subscription plans for mass licensing. That will drive more revenue to the artists and to Bandcamp. Songtradr seems like a good place for them to have landed. The founder and CEO is a chart-topping musician/producer himself, so even the C-level execs there are music heads. It's almost too good to be true, honestly.
I don't know many who buy physical. It's just offlined from Spotify. How else do you listen whilst commuting? Like sure one could own mp3s but it's not the done thing by most.
I know my experience is all anecdotal but I just wanted to give some anecdotes in counter. I'm sure some is generational with me being in my 20s.
I'd argue that's the casual listener variety who are just using streaming as a replacement for radio. The cratediggers are still pumping billions every year into physical media, existing Vinyl plants can't even cope with the demand which is leading to even more of them being brought back from the dead. This trend includes the latest generation of listeners, it's seeing an unbelievable growth rate across younger demographics.
It's not hard to see why. Vinyl gets you a better mix and immunity to the loudness wars by virtue of the physical format - try to crank up the 'mix volume' there and you just bounce the needle off the record. It's also easier to store and far more gorgeous to look at than those insipid jewel cases that creak and break all the time. It has a scent, like books, but unlike CDs.
How far that goes we'll have to see, but literally no one ever thought it could come back like it has already with double digit growth rates every year. It went up 17% last year alone which is a truly insane resurgence for any kind of physical media.
Then it sounds like it's in better hands than Epic. With everything going down the drain Bandcamp is one of the few I'm happy to support.