Epic Games’ Private Market Value Slides as Fortnite Struggles to Deliver its Next Growth Spurt

Epic Games is one of the biggest names in gaming, but its private market shares are telling a more cautious story. 

The Forge Price for Epic Games stood at $328.86 per share as of Sept. 14, down 26.92% over the past year and 31.45% over the past six months, according to Forge Global data. Epic is not publicly traded, and the Forge Price is a derived private market price rather than a conventional stock-market quote.

The decline comes as Epic faces pressure around Fortnite engagement and attempts to bring its costs more in line with its business.

Epic’s recent private-market performance comes after a significant valuation reset. The company reached a $31.5 billion valuation in April 2022, when Sony Group Corp (NYSE:SONY) and Kirkbi, the family investment group behind Lego, each invested $1 billion in Epic.

Less than two years later, Epic’s valuation had fallen. In February 2024, Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) invested $1.5 billion in the company in a transaction that valued Epic at $22.5 billion, according to private market data. That represented roughly a 29% decline from Epic’s 2022 valuation benchmark.

The current Forge Price adds another layer to that valuation story. While Forge’s price is not directly comparable to a primary funding-round valuation, its nearly 27% one-year decline shows sentiment in the private secondary market has weakened further.

Fortnite Becomes a Problem

Fortnite remains a key driver of Epic’s business — and a growing source of concern for investors.

In March, CEO Tim Sweeney told employees that a downturn in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025 meant Epic was "spending significantly more than we’re making." The company announced more than 1,000 layoffs and said it had identified more than $500 million in savings through reductions in contracting, marketing and open positions.

The cuts followed another major round of layoffs in 2023, when Epic eliminated roughly 830 positions.

While Fortnite continues to attract a massive audience, engagement has weakened. Reuters reported that while Fortnite remained among the most-played games, average playtime had fallen, creating a challenge for a live-service business that depends on keeping players engaged and spending.

That makes the private market decline particularly notable. Investors aren’t necessarily betting against Fortnite itself; they may be reassessing how much future growth can be generated from a franchise that has already reached enormous scale.

Epic’s Next Growth Engine

Epic has been trying to build a business that extends beyond Fortnite, including through Unreal Engine, the Epic Games Store and its creator ecosystem.

The company has also been pushing toward a broader vision in which Fortnite functions more like a platform than a single game, giving creators more ways to build experiences and monetize content.

That strategy could ultimately help Epic diversify its revenue and reduce its dependence on the engagement cycle of one blockbuster title. But for now, the private market numbers suggest investors are taking a more cautious view.

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