“Why Work Hard At Epic?” Faliszek Asks After 1,000 Layoffs
Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek has launched a sharp attack on Epic Games and CEO Tim Sweeney following the company’s latest round of cuts, which he says cost about 1,000 people their jobs. In a TikTok posted after the news, Faliszek questioned why anyone at Epic would “work hard” when, in his view, the company can “just lay off 1,000 people” and keep moving.
“Can someone explain this to me?” he says. “Why anybody who works at Epic should work hard? Cause Epic just laid off 1,000 people.” He goes on to claim Epic “is gonna shut down Fortnite Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Festival Battle stage, whatever that is,” before adding, “Who knows?”
@chetfaliszek ♬ original sound - chetfaliszek
Epic didn’t respond to the TikTok directly, but Sweeney has previously argued that other studios could now hire “high-quality” talent coming out of Epic—a line that landed poorly with many developers online.
Agency, Ownership, And A Valve Contrast
Faliszek’s criticism centers on a loss of agency. “You just make one game,” he says of Epic’s Fortnite-first focus. “If you work there, maybe you really love that game. But how do you have any agency? How do you have any ownership when you’re just gonna get laid off like this?”
He contrasts that with his time at Valve, describing a culture that made people feel invested. “When I worked at Valve, I owned Valve,” Faliszek says. “It was my company.” While Valve remains private and his phrasing is loose, he’s clear about the practical upside. “They care so much about what they’re making that they’re still there and they’re all rewarded handsomely,” he says. “To be clear, I could retire, I worked my ass off at Valve, and I could retire today. I made more money than I’ll ever make.”
His frustration isn’t subtle. “Would I do that at Epic if they’re gonna treat me like that and just have layoffs like that and just act the same way [as EA]? Like, hey, ‘great job, made Battlefield 6, we dethroned Call of Duty: here’s a pink slip.’” He adds that “lazy dev” pile-ons ignore how often companies “just cut them off at the knees.”
A Long-Running Rift With Sweeney
Faliszek also takes aim at Sweeney’s leadership. “Tim has gone from making games to making one game, spending all his time doing that and trying to make as much money as possible,” he says. “And I guess well, hey, Tim, Gabe’s better at that than you.” The jab leans on a long, public rivalry: since launching the Epic Games Store, Sweeney has hammered Valve’s 20%–30% Steam cut as a “bad deal for developers.” Back in 2017, a terse internal reply reportedly sent by Valve’s COO to Gabe Newell about a Sweeney rant summed up the mood with, “you mad bro?”
Faliszek folds in recent Epic moves to make his case, criticizing decisions like buying Bandcamp, hiking V-Bucks prices “to make ends meet,” and then still laying off hundreds. “Everybody I know at Epic that was like ‘the Epic guy’ that had been there forever is gone,” he says. “Maybe there’s still some people there besides Tim, but the people that I liked and trusted, they’re gone.”
Epic Points To Its Layoff Note, Fortnite Team Braces
Epic declined to address Faliszek’s remarks, instead pointing to a March 24 Newsroom post about the layoffs. Internally and on social media, staff and producers have sounded shaken. One Fortnite producer asked for patience as remaining developers “pick up the pieces” after the “massive layoffs,” adding: “We cannot even fully understand what kind of impacts this will have on the game for the rest of the year and likely beyond.”
If Faliszek is right, morale could be the biggest fallout. He argues sweeping cuts turn committed teams into clock-watchers: “After layoffs like this, most [are] just gonna clock in.” That loss of trust, more than any single feature delay, can stall a live-service behemoth.
He circles back to the idea of ownership as the antidote: reward people, give them agency, and they’ll invest. “I would much rather take care of people, reward them, show them that their hard work counts: and they’ll invest and work hard.” The question now is whether Epic—amid cost cuts, price hikes, and a bruised culture—can rebuild that buy-in. Fortnite will keep shipping updates, but the company’s long-term health may hinge less on a roadmap and more on whether its remaining developers still feel like what they’re building is theirs.
