“Hit ’em with the ol’ Corporate Twist” is what the devil on Tim Sweeny’s shoulder probably said, moments before hell broke loose. Fortnite’s CEO needed something to say in the wake of firing over 1000 people, and while you can kinda see where he was coming from if you squint, this message really isn’t what people wanted to hear right now.
Sweeny’s message is as follows: “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 a sound bet that anyone with Epic Games on their resume is in the top few percent of their discipline.”
It’s not hard to see where this is coming from. Sweeny wants to make sure that his ex-employees have an easy time landing on their feet. And he wants to frame things in a positive light, as corpo higher-ups are always trying to do.
There’s just, uh, one slight issue.
Most of the people reading that message – including the 1000+ ex-Fortnite employees now out of a job – really don’t want to hear how good these life-altering decisions are for the ultra-wealthy.
And there’s also an extra touch of irony to it all. Because as CEO, Sweeny’s the guy responsible for all this hardship.
Fortnite is a game that can afford a Star Wars crossover. So seeing Sweeny try and twist a positive message out of all this just screams “I am out of touch and need to be hated as soon as possible.” Which is not at all what he meant, but that was the message read.
Blowback To Fortnite Boss’ Layoff Response Is Swift And Severe
One witness described Sweeny’s post as “the most ridiculous statement to make.”
“You cannot seriously think its okay to lay off that many people and have this be the response.”
“I really wish you’d at least apologize,” said another.
Things were a bit more tempered over on PCGamer, but “I’m not sure the affected staff will share the same self-righteous tone” is not exactly a glowing review.
To Sweeny’s credit, Epic Games’ official statement on the layoffs at least contains an “I’m sorry.”
“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.”
Epic’s message ultimately blamed market conditions for the layoffs – something that many people have a hard time buying. Both Sweeny’s X post and this official statement were described as “self-righteous.“
One thing is clear, though: those 1000+ people are out of a job, and will need to find a new one soon. Their resume may be glowing, but in an industry that continuously bleeds off workers, finding space for yourself may prove harder as the years go on.
