An Audience With…Tim Sweeney
Edge|June 2019

The head of Epic Games on how to maintain the biggest game and engine on the planet

Jen Simpkins
An Audience With…Tim Sweeney

The last few years have been transformative for Epic Games, even by its chameleonic standards. CEO and founder Tim Sweeney saw, in 2012, an industry on the precipice of change, and knew his company needed to change in kind. Fast forward to 2019 and Epic has created, in Fortnite, a true pop-culture phenomenon. Unreal Engine 4 has gone from strength to strength, its power improved off the back of Fortnite, its reach greatly expanded by it going free in 2016. Last year Sweeney and co-launched the Epic Games Store, a PC game marketplace offering the most attractive revenue share in the industry; this year it was followed by Epic Games MegaGrants, a no-strings-attached $100 million investment fund. Sweeney stands out not for his wealth and power, though he has plenty of both. Rather, it’s his apparent intent to use those things to benefit the game industry as a whole, rather than simply his own pockets.

Obviously, it’s a different story today, but a few years ago Epic was in a tricky place. Cliff Bleszinski said that, shortly before he left, you told him where Epic was going and asked him to make a choice: stay or go. What was your vision for the future of Epic then, and how close to it is the company that exists today?

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2019-Ausgabe von Edge.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2019-Ausgabe von Edge.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS EDGEAlle anzeigen
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Edge UK

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles

Anyone familiar with the concept of kitbashing is already halfway to understanding what Tomas Sala’s open-world builder is all about.

time-read
4 Minuten  |
June 2024
Children Of The Sun
Edge UK

Children Of The Sun

René Rother’s acrid revenge thriller – an action game with its limbs broken and forcibly rearranged into the shape of a spatial puzzler – is at once a bonafide original and an unlikely throwback. Cast your eyes right and you wouldn’t blink if we told you this was a forgotten Grasshopper Manufacture game from the early PS3 era (we won’t be at all surprised if this finds a spot on Suda51’s end-of-year list).

time-read
4 Minuten  |
June 2024
Post Script
Edge UK

Post Script

What does Rise Of The Ronin say for PS5 exclusivity?

time-read
3 Minuten  |
June 2024
Rise Of The Ronin
Edge UK

Rise Of The Ronin

Falling in battle simply switches control to the next person up, and then quick revive fixes everything

time-read
4 Minuten  |
June 2024
Post Script
Edge UK

Post Script

The pawn and the pandemic

time-read
4 Minuten  |
June 2024
Dragon's Dogma 2
Edge UK

Dragon's Dogma 2

The road from Vernworth to Bakbattahl is scenic but arduous. Ignore the dawdling mobs of goblins, and duck beneath the chanting harpies that circle on the currents overhead, and even moving at a hurried clip it is impossible for a party of four to complete the journey by nightfall.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
June 2024
BLUE MANCHU
Edge UK

BLUE MANCHU

How enforced early retirement eventually led Jonathan Chey back to System Shock

time-read
7 Minuten  |
June 2024
THE MAKING 0F.... AMERICAN ARCADIA
Edge UK

THE MAKING 0F.... AMERICAN ARCADIA

How a contrast of perspectives added extra layers to a side-scrolling platform game

time-read
8 Minuten  |
June 2024
COMING IN TO LAND
Edge UK

COMING IN TO LAND

The creator of Spelunky, plus a super-group of indie developers, have spent the best part of a decade making 50 games. Has the journey been worth it?

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
June 2024
VOID SOLS
Edge UK

VOID SOLS

This abstract indie Soulslike has some bright ideas

time-read
2 Minuten  |
June 2024