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Epic Games has said it volition "solve" the security of a erstwhile Fortnite worker surviving with terminal cancer, pursuing wide disapproval of the company's determination to laic them off.
Mike Prinke, a programmer who had worked astatine Epic Games for 7 years, was 1 of the galore unit members caught up successful Epic Games' astir caller wide layoffs, which resulted successful much than 1,000 employees retired of work.
Prinke besides has terminal encephalon cancer, thing his woman Jenni has helped publicize online, pursuing his nonaccomplishment of beingness insurance. The concern rapidly stoked further fury from fans astatine the unit cuts, and has present prompted a effect from Epic Games brag Tim Sweeney, who said the institution was present "in interaction with the household [to] lick the security for them."
"My husband, Mike, was precocious laid disconnected on with implicit 1,000 others astatine Epic Games," she wrote successful a station connected Facebook. "What makes this antithetic for our household is that Mike is presently warring terminal encephalon cancer. Because of the layoff, we didn't conscionable suffer income — we mislaid his beingness insurance. And due to the fact that his information is present considered a pre-existing condition, helium can't get caller coverage.
"So now, arsenic I look the world of losing my husband... I'm besides facing the world of what benignant of funeral/burial I tin afford. How I volition support a extortion implicit our heads. How I volition support our lad and the beingness we built together. What volition hap to our dogs... Mike is not conscionable a number. He is simply a father. A husband. A idiosyncratic deploy loved... We are moving retired of time, and I'm trying everything I tin to support my household "
Responding to comments connected her post, Prinke's woman Jenni said she had been exploring "conversion oregon portability options for beingness insurance" but that these were expensive, "to the tune of thousands of dollars per month." Over connected Twitter/X, galore Fortnite fans began sharing the situation, which pb to Sweeney yet responding.
"Epic is successful interaction with the household and volition lick the security for them," Sweeney wrote, responding to BackersGamesF via a station connected X/Twitter. "There is precocious confidentiality astir aesculapian accusation and it was not a origin successful this layoff decision. Sorry to everyone for not recognizing this terribly achy concern and handling it successful advance."
Announcing the layoffs past week, Sweeney said Epic Games had reacted to a downturn successful involvement for Fortnite that began successful 2025, though analysts told IGN that less radical playing the game's seasoned conflict royale was lone 1 of its problems. The institution has spent years warring costly ineligible battles with Apple and Google, portion bankrolling the Epic Games Store arsenic it attempts to rival Steam. And past there's the explosive maturation of Roblox, which Fortnite has present fallen acold behind. Many fans consciousness similar it is Epic Games' ain unit that person paid the price, portion those who stay astatine the institution accidental they simply don't cognize however Fortnite volition look aboriginal this twelvemonth and beyond with adjacent to a 4th of the company's unit gone.
Sweeney had antecedently commented connected the layoffs to item the prime of endowment that his institution had conscionable laid off, saying that "employers volition spot a watercourse of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime prime folks" pursuing Epic Games' wide layoffs. "An important happening to recognize is that Epic ne'er lowered our hiring standards arsenic we grew, and the layoff wasn't a performance-based "rightsizing" arsenic companies telephone it nowadays," helium concluded. "It's a dependable stake that anyone with Epic Games connected their resume is successful the apical fewer percent of their discipline."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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