Tim Sweeney Draws Flak For 26-Year-Old Forum Post On Studio Closures

Tim Sweeney Said Bankrupt Game Studios "Deserve" The Axe In Resurfaced Post Image provided by Official GDC, Wikimedia. Published Oct 23, 2026, 6:25 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account Tim Sweeney isn't exactly popular. Every other week he posts an asinine take on X and is inundated with backlash, only to double down while a select few, also unpopular game devs rally to his corner. For younger gamers like myself, it might seem like the man behind Unreal Tournament let the Fortnite success get to his head, and is now trapped in a one-sided feud with Steam and Gabe Newell, but in reality, Sweeney has always been like this. As highlighted by Twitter user Sinnoware, in 2000, when Thief and System Shock dev Looking Glass Studios closed its doors, Sweeney posted a response to internet forum evilavatar, in which he said some devs deserve the axe - likening it to when the comet hit the dinosaurs. “This isn't a sad day, it's an economically realistic day,” he said. “Looking Glass spent lots of money making innovative games that never sold well.” Tim Sweeney Thinks He's A "Cooler Life Form" The post was met with plenty of backlash at the time, with players calling Sweeney an idiot and buffoon among sharing a few colorful things they'd like to do to him. But it's been dredged up again 26 years later and is now being viewed under the lens of a declining industry where talented devs are being tossed aside as Sweeney gleefully embraces AI, vibecoding the Epic Games Store and even hosting a vibecoding contest. His complete disregard for his peers and the artistry of game development isn't some outdated opinion of a younger dev who has grown; you can trace the roots of that post to who he is today, and how he courts controversy week in and out. “Projects and teams that are not producing profitable games are being axed,” Sweeney continued. “Origin's projects (minus UO) and Looking Glass are only the beginning. Some of the companies and teams that will take the axe damn well deserve it, and others are unfortunately made up of really good guys who just haven't had the good fortune of producing hits. This is the bit where the comet hits the earth and the dinosaurs die, but the way is cleared for cooler life forms to evolve.” Sweeney clearly counted himself among those cooler life forms, but now he is throwing himself headfirst into the AI woodchipper - the very thing making gaming a completely unaffordable luxury. But what's really strange about this post is how Sweeney could very easily share it today, verbatim, and it wouldn't feel out of place whatsoever.