Epic to sun‑set side modes

Epic Games is shutting down three Fortnite side modes after saying those experiments failed to keep a large enough audience. (epicgames.com) Ballistic and Festival Battle Stage are scheduled to go offline on April 16, 2026, with Fortnite’s 40.20 release. Rocket Racing lasts longer, but Epic says it will be removed from Fortnite in October 2026. (epicgames.com) Epic is not erasing every related feature. Festival Main Stage and Jam Stage stay in Fortnite, players keep their customized cars in the Vehicle Locker, and Epic says first-person shooter tools and music features will remain available for creators in Unreal Editor for Fortnite. (epicgames.com) The cuts land less than three weeks after Bloomberg reported that Epic was laying off more than 1,000 employees on March 24, 2026. Bloomberg said Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney told staff Fortnite engagement had fallen over the past year and the company was spending more than it was making. (bloomberg.com) Those modes were part of Epic’s push to turn Fortnite into a platform with more than battle royale. Rocket Racing brought arcade racing into Fortnite in 2024, while Ballistic launched in early access in March 2025 as a five-versus-five tactical shooter. (fortnite.com 1) (fortnite.com 2) Epic is keeping the creator system that pays developers for popular islands. In Epic’s documentation, the Fortnite Developer Program says creators can publish islands inside Fortnite and receive money based on player engagement. (dev.epicgames.com) That leaves a narrower message in the shutdown notice: Epic is pulling back from company-built side modes, but it is still leaving tools behind for outside creators. Epic says racing tools will be added to Unreal Editor for Fortnite, even as Rocket Racing templates inside Fortnite are removed. (epicgames.com) At the same time, Epic still has a larger entertainment bet in motion with Disney. Disney said in February 2024 that it would invest $1.5 billion in Epic Games as part of a multiyear plan to build a new games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite. (thewaltdisneycompany.com) So the near-term change is simple: Ballistic and Festival Battle Stage are days from disappearing, Rocket Racing has a few more months, and Fortnite’s next experiments are likely to look more selective than the last round. (epicgames.com)