Tim Sweeney, chief of firm that created Fortnite, received backlash after worker’s wife revealed loss of life insurance
The chief of the company that created Fortnite, a popular online game, has issued an apology following backlash after recent mass layoffs cost an employee with terminal brain cancer his job – and his life insurance.
On Sunday, Tim Sweeney, the Epic Games chief executive, apologized after Jenni Griffin, the wife of Mike Prinke, a laid-off employee, revealed on social media that the loss of her husband’s job also meant he was losing his life insurance.
“Epic is in contact with the family and will solve the insurance for them,” Sweeney said in an X post in response to Griffin. “There is high confidentiality around medical information, and it was not a factor in this layoff decision. Sorry to everyone for not recognizing this terribly painful situation and handling it in advance.”
Sweeney’s Epic Games has annual profits of $4bn. Its Fortnite is the world’s fourth-most-played PC game.
