After firing over 1,000 people, Tim Sweeney sees the glass as half full – because the job market now has plenty of good people.
On March 24, 2026, it was another dark day in the gaming industryGaming giant Epic Games laid off a whole 1,000 employees on Tuesday, including long-time developers beloved by the community such asPaige Dugre.
The reason given by Epic CEOTim Sweeney himselfwas an ongoing “decline in engagement with Fortnite”, the company’s most successful game. This far-reaching decision was already met with incomprehension in the community at the time,but now the Epic boss is adding fuel to the fire.
“The best in their field”
In a post on X, Sweeney commented on an article by games journalist Dean Takahashi, who described the mass dismissal as “sad news for Epic Games”.
In the coming days, employers will receive a flood of resumes from employees who are of unparalleled quality.
It’s important to understand that Epic never lowered its hiring standards as it grew and that the layoffs were not performance-based “workforce optimization,” as companies call it these days.
It’s safe to assume that anyone with “Epic Games” on their resumeis in the top few percent of their field
.
In the coming days, employers will see a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime quality folks. An important thing to understand is that Epic never lowered our hiring standards as we grew, and the layoff wasn’t a performance-based “rightsizing” as companies call it nowadays. It’s… https://t.co/3SvyWNC04k
– Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 25, 2026
Sweeney’s point is that the industry is more or less getting something back from this move. If this seems a little strange to you, you’re not alone. In the comments under the post and in contributions on other sites,such as Reddit, the community is venting.
- X-user BackersGamesFwrites:“You fired your best employees. How can you do this to [Evan Kinney]? He built your damn game. You can’t be serious”
- X-UserTheActMan_YTwrites:“LMAO, so you’re saying Epic Games has no respect for its talented staff Very insightful, Tim.”
