Tag: Engaget

Epic Games has announced sweeping layoffs of more than 1,000 employees. “The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded,” CEO Tim Sweeney said in a memo to workers on Tuesday.

Sweeney wrote that, combined with “over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles,” the layoffs will give Epic more stability. He added that the layoffs are not related to AI.

Back in 2023, Epic laid off 830 employees. At the time, that was 16 percent of its workforce, suggesting around 4,000 employees remained at the company. If those numbers haven’t changed too much in the meantime, that means Epic is culling around a quarter of its headcount this week.

Along with a dip in Fortnite engagement, Sweeney pointed out that Epic isn’t immune from systemic issues the games industry is contending with, such as a slowdown in growth, reduced spending, “tougher cost economics” and a battle with other types of media for consumer’s attention.

However, Epic has some issues of its own to deal with. “Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic with every season; we’re only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimizing Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers,” Sweeney wrote. (He previously said Epic spent over $100 million in legal fees alone on its App Store battle with Apple.)

The path forward for the company, per its CEO, is to create “awesome Fortnite experiences with fresh seasonal content, gameplay, story and live events,” perhaps in an attempt to recapture some of that “magic” he’s referring to. Speeding up work on developer tools amid the transition to Unreal Engine 6 is important as well, Sweeney indicated.

He said that the workers Epic is laying off will receive at least four months of their base pay, though they’ll get more depending on the length of their tenure at the company. Epic will pay for extended healthcare coverage, including for six months for affected workers in the US. The company — which is not publicly traded — will speed up the vesting of stock options through next January and “extend equity exercise options for up to two years,” Sweeney said.

Epic announced the layoffs days after it increased the price of Fortnite’s V-bucks currency. “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills,” it said.

As part of the changes at the company, Epic is killing off three Fortnite modes. Rocket Racing (which was built by Rocket League developer Psyonix) will shut down in October. Fortnite Ballistic — a 5v5 tactical shooter mode — and Festival Battle Stage, which is a competitive version of the Fortnite Festival rhythm game, will vanish on April 16. “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 on X.

The company noted in its Year in Review recap last month that although the hours that players spent in third-party titles on the Epic Games Store increased by four percent in 2025, “overall gameplay hours declined year over year,” hinting at a dip in Fortnite numbers. The company said PC players spent $1.16 billion on the store in 2025, an increase of six percent from the previous year. Of that, $400 million was spent on third-party PC games. However, Epic Games Store vice president and general manager Steve Allison told Polygon in February that, factoring in first-party revenue and the 12 percent cut the company takes from third-party games, “the store is already — even with all this stuff — marginally profitable now.”

Here is the full memo Sweeney shared with Epic’s employees on Tuesday:

Today we’re laying off over 1000 Epic employees. I’m sorry we’re here again. The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded. This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place.

Some of the challenges we’re facing are industry-wide challenges: slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics; current consoles selling less than last generation’s; and games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment.

And some of our challenges are unique to Epic. Despite Fortnite remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent Fortnite magic with every season; we’re only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimizing Fortnite for the world’s billions of smartphones; and in being the industry’s vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers.

Since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI. To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.

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. And we’ll be kicking off the next generation of Epic with huge launch plans towards the end of the year.

This isn’t our first time being here. Epic survived upheavals in 1990’s with the move from 2D to 3D with Unreal 1; in the 2000’s building console games with Gears of War; and in 2012 moving to online gaming with Paragon and Fortnite. Each time, we rebuilt our foundations and earned a renewed leadership position.

Market conditions today are the most extreme we’ve seen since those early days, with massive upheaval in the industry accompanied by massive opportunity for the companies that come out as winners on the other side. That’s what we’re aiming to do for our players, and we aim to bring other like-minded developers in the industry along on the journey to build an increasingly open and vibrant future of entertainment together.

At Epic, we pride ourselves in only hiring the industry’s best, so it is very painful to part with so many talented people. The folks impacted by the layoffs will receive a severance package that includes at least four months of base pay, with more based on tenure. We’re also extending Epic-paid healthcare coverage.

For example, in the U.S., they’ll receive paid coverage for 6 months. We’ll also accelerate their stock options vesting through January 2027 and extend equity exercise options for up to two years.

We’ll have a company meeting Thursday to talk about the roadmap in more detail.

-Tim

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line.

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels.

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500.

Akai just revealed specs and other details about the MPC Sample after teasing the gadget earlier this month. This is a portable sampler and groovebox that looks eerily similar to Teenage Engineering’s EP series. It also resembles some legendary Akai gadgets from decades past, including the MPC3000 and MPC60. In other words, it’s easy on the eyes and sort of looks like a Super Famicom.

It seems pretty capable. The Sample has 16 velocity-sensitive MPC pads with poly aftertouch, which should please finger drummers. It can handle 32 stereo voices of polyphony and there’s a sequencer for making actual beats.

As for sampling, there’s an easily accessible chop mode, in addition to time-stretching and repitching capabilities. Samples can be edited via waveform, thanks to a full-color LCD display. The machine can resample internally with FX, letting creators make some unique soundscapes. The MPC Sample boasts access to four effects engines and 60 effect types.

The gadget ships with over 100 factory drum kits, but users can easily add whatever they want. It comes with just 8GB of internal storage, but there’s a microSD slot for more. It can, of course, connect to MIDI keyboards for playing melodic samples. The Sample also hooks up to DAWs.

The RAM is on the lower side, at just 2GB. However, this is the standard configuration for some more expensive units, like the MPC Live and Live II. It should be able to get the job done, but the MPC XL is the product to pick for those looking for maximum horsepower. That one has a whopping 16GB of RAM. It also costs nearly $3,000.

The rechargeable battery here lasts five hours, which is respectable but not groundbreaking. Teenage Engineering’s EP series boasts better battery life, but requires pricey AAs. Finally, there’s a speaker, but I’ve never had much luck with speakers on this type of thing. Bring some headphones to actually hear what’s going on.

Perhaps the biggest news here is the price. The MPC Sample costs just $400, which seems reasonable given the form factor and features. It’s available right now.

Casio recently unveiled another nifty-looking portable sampler called the SX-C1. It also resembles a Nintendo product, but this time it’s a Game Boy and not the Japanese SNES.

Spotify has started rolling out a feature called SongDNA that can show you the people behind your favorite tracks and give you an insight on how they were created. You can access it by opening the Now Playing view while listening to a specific song and then scrolling down to the SongDNA box.

Tracks that support the new feature will show you all the artists, writers, producers and collaborators behind them. It’s yet another way to make more music on the platform discoverable, since you’ll be able to tap on their icons to see their profiles and the other pieces they worked on. The box will also contain the samples and interpolations that helped form a track’s sound, as well as the covers it inspired. Spotify says it’s giving eligible artist and label teams the power to review and manage the components of the feature, so it’s bound to be supported by more and more tracks as time goes on.

“SongDNA is designed to make a song’s creative lineage more transparent so fans can easily explore the people and influences behind the music they love,” said Jacqueline Ankner, Spotify’s Head of Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships. “By bringing collaborators, samples, and covers together in one place, we’re making it easier for fans to discover new music and see how songs connect and come to life—while giving songwriters, producers, and rightsholders meaningful recognition for the role they play in creating it.”

SongDNA is making its way to paying iOS and Android users around the world, but it’s still in beta and might still go through revisions before it’s more widely available. It will roll out more broadly to Premium users throughout April.

At the end of February, Ultrahuman announced its latest smart ring which promises up to 15 days of battery life on a single charge. Sadly, if you were based in the US, you weren’t able to pre-order the Ring Pro, as the company has been locked in a longstanding legal tussle with ring rivals Oura. Now, however, it appears the situation has been resolved, with the US Customs and Border Protection giving its blessing. Consequently, pre-orders for the Ring Pro are starting today, with the first 1,000 customers to sign up getting a hefty bonus.

The smart ring market is still in its infancy, which means it’s fiercely competitive as companies try to keep their rivals at bay. Market leader Oura has been willing to protect its IP in court, issuing patent lawsuits against Ultrahuman, Samsung, RingConn, Reebook, Circular, Zepp, Nexxbase and Omate. In October 2025, Oura secured what it called a “decisive legal victory” over Ultrahuman, banning the import and sale of its rings in the United States. On its own website, Ultrahuman stated the lawsuit was lacking in merit, and that it was an attempt by a rival to hold down a “new player” with a “superior product.” Even so, the company’s Bhuvan Srinivasan told me in January that the Ring Pro has been designed to avoid any such legal drama going forward.

The standard price for the Ring Pro is $399, but you’ll need to fork out another $100 for the fancy schmancy charging case that adds so much more to the ring’s arsenal. But, for those 1,000 early birds, you’ll be able to pick up both the Pro and its case for $349, which is quite a hefty discount all told. If you’re customer 1,001 don’t feel too despondent, however, as Ultrahuman will still offer you some sort of discount if you’re quick.

If the Sonos app saga still has you down, Denon has three new multi-room speakers that give you some fresh alternatives. The company’s Home 200, Home 400 and Home 600 offer audio flexibility with other HEOS-enabled products. These new devices were also designed so that they blend in with home decor better than most speakers, coming in stone and charcoal color options for that purpose. As you progress up in number, the speakers not only get physically larger, but their sonic output is also more robust.

The Denon Home 200 houses three drivers and three amplifiers for “natural, room-filling sound” in a compact speaker. More specifically, you get two 0.98-inch tweeters and a single 4-inch woofer. The Home 200 looks a kind of like the Sonos Move 2, although Denon’s new compact unit isn’t portable. However, you can use a pair of them for a stereo setup, or connect two 200s to Denon’s Home Sound Bar 550 and Home Subwoofer for a 5.1 home theater system.

Next up is the Home 400, which carries two 0.75-inch tweeters, two 4.5-inch woofers and six amplifiers, in addition to two 1-inch up-firing drivers. Here, Denon says you can expect “a wide, airy soundstage” that provides room-filling audio coverage. What’s more, those upward-facing drivers project sound overhead, so there’s a greater sense of dimensionality and immersion here.

The Home 600 is the largest speaker in the new trio, with dual 6.5-inch woofers alongside two tweeters, two midrange units and two up-firing drivers. Denon explains that this configuration offers “deep, authoritative bass” that provides more depth in your tunes than other two models.

All three of the new Home speakers have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth USB-C and aux connectivity with the wireless streaming powered by Denon’s HEOS tech. As such, you can connect these Home speakers with up to 64 other HEOS devices — including A/V receivers and Denon’s new DP-500BT turntable — and arrange your audio gear in up to 32 different zones. You’ll have access to tunes from Tidal, Amazon Music HD and Qobuz in the HEOS app, and all three new Home speakers support Dolby Atmos Music where available.

The Home 200, Home 400 and Home 600 speakers are available today for $399, $599 and $799 respectively. They’re available from Denon directly or other authorized retailers.

Snapchat users are sending a staggering number of snaps to each other, according to newly released data from Snap. In 2025, Snapchat users created close to 2 trillion snaps, the company said in an update.

That works out to about 5.5 billion distinct snaps per day and about 63,000 each second, according to the company. When you consider that Snapchat has about 474 million daily users, that averages to more than 11 snaps per user each day. In a blog post, the company called it “a reflection of how often people are capturing a moment in a bid to connect with one another.”

The numbers offer a window into engagement on the nearly 15-year-old platform where much of users’ activity happens out of public view. The stat is the first time the company has shared the total number of snaps sent in a year, though Snap said last year its users shared more than 1 trillion selfie snaps in 2024.

Snap, which at times has struggled with user growth, has been inching closer to 1 billion users for the last year. It reported 946 million monthly users in its most recent earnings report. CEO Evan Spiegel described reaching a billion people as a “long term goal.”

Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Engadget’s parent company Yahoo, joined the board of directors at Snap on September 12, 2024. No one outside of Engadget’s editorial team has any say in our coverage of the company.

The Federal Communications Commission has released a notice today designating any consumer routers manufactured outside the US as a security risk. The rule states that new foreign-made product models for network routers will land on the Covered List, a set of communications equipment seen as having an unacceptable risk to national security. Previously purchased routers can still be used and retailers can still sell models that were approved by the prior FCC policies. In an exception to the usual rule, routers included on the Covered List can continue to receive updates at least through March 1, 2027, although the date could potentially be extended.

The move stems from a goal in the White House’s 2025 national security strategy that reads: “the United States must never be dependent on any outside power for core components—from raw materials to parts to finished products—necessary to the nation’s defense or economy.” The notice from the FCC states that companies can apply for conditional approval for new products from the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security. However, that requires the businesses to provide a plan for shifting at least some of their manufacturing to the US in order to receive that conditional approval.

Few, if any, brands known for consumer-grade routers currently build products stateside. It seems likely this sweeping provision could face legal challenges from and cause confusion for the many companies that have production facilities overseas. In addition to Chinese tech giants like TP-Link, US companies will also be affected. NetGear, Eero and Google Nest are all headquartered domestically but have manufacturing in Asia. At least some of that manufacturing activity happens in regions like Taiwan that have historically been on good terms with the US. Until the sector sorts out this new restriction, don’t expect to see any new router models on store shelves.

EA has put another game on the chopping block, or at least the console versions of it. The company says it will delist the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Battlefield Hardline from digital storefronts on May 22, and shut down the online services on June 22. The single-player campaign will remain playable for those who own the game. The PC version of Battlefield Hardline isn’t affected by these changes.

In its announcement on X, EA didn’t explain exactly why it’s ceasing support for the game on PS4 and Xbox One. It pointed readers to a FAQ on its website that lays out some of the typical reasons why it ends online support for its games. These include factors like declining player bases.

Battlefield Hardline, which was released in 2015, will still be available on Steam as well as EA’s own PC app. The Steam version has a peak concurrent player count of 41 so far this year.

It’s hardly uncommon for a publisher to end online services for games with declining player bases, but it’s an issue that’s come into greater focus over the last few years thanks in part to the Stop Killing Games movement. EA alone has sunsetted dozens of games. Its website has a full accounting of these, spread across three webpages.

Anthropic announced today that its Claude Code and Claude Cowork tools are being updated to accomplish tasks using your computer. The latest update will see these AI resources become capable of opening files, using the browser and running dev tools.

When enabled, the Claude AI chatbot will first prioritize connectors to supported services such as the Google workplace suite or Slack, but if a connector isn’t available, it will be able to still execute an assigned task. Claude should ask for permission before taking these actions, but Anthropic still recommended not using this feature to handle sensitive information as a precaution.

Claude computer use will initially be available to Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers on macOS. This feature is still in a research preview, so will continue to be adjusted based on Anthropic’s user feedback. It will also support use with Anthropic’s Dispatch feature, which allows a person to message the chatbot in a single continuous conversation across phone and desktop.

Claude Cowork was introduced in January. It’s an iteration of the Claude Code AI agent for programmers that is designed for more casual users.