Epic Games has mentioned it’ll “remedy” the insurance coverage of a former Fortnite worker dwelling with terminal most cancers, following widespread criticism of the corporate’s resolution to lay them off.
Mike Prinke, a programmer who had labored at Epic Games for seven years, was one of many many employees members caught up in Epic Games’ most up-to-date mass layoffs, which resulted in additional than 1,000 staff out of labor.
Prinke additionally has terminal mind most cancers, one thing his spouse Jenni has helped publicize on-line, following his lack of life insurance coverage. The scenario rapidly stoked additional fury from followers on the employees cuts, and has now prompted a response from Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney, who mentioned the corporate was now “in touch with the household [to] remedy the insurance coverage for them.”
“My husband, Mike, was lately laid off together with over 1,000 others at Epic Games,” she wrote in a submit on Facebook. “What makes this completely different for our household is that Mike is at present combating terminal mind most cancers. Due to the layoff, we did not simply lose earnings — we misplaced his life insurance coverage. And since his situation is now thought-about a pre-existing situation, he cannot get new protection.
“So now, as I face the truth of dropping my husband… I am additionally going through the truth of what kind of funeral/burial I can afford. How I’ll maintain a roof over our heads. How I’ll shield our son and the life we constructed collectively. What’s going to occur to our canine… Mike is not only a quantity. He’s a father. A husband. An individual deploy beloved… We’re working out of time, and I am attempting every thing I can to shield my household “
Responding to feedback on her submit, Prinke’s spouse Jenni mentioned she had been exploring “conversion or portability choices for all times insurance coverage” however that these had been costly, “to the tune of 1000’s of {dollars} per thirty days.” Over on Twitter/X, quite a few Fortnite followers started sharing the scenario, which lead to Sweeney in the end responding.
“Epic is in touch with the household and can remedy the insurance coverage for them,” Sweeney wrote, responding to BackersGamesF through a post on X/Twitter. “There may be excessive confidentiality round medical data and it was not an element on this layoff resolution. Sorry to everybody for not recognizing this terribly painful scenario and dealing with it prematurely.”
Saying the layoffs final week, Sweeney mentioned Epic Games had reacted to a downturn in curiosity for Fortnite that started in 2025, although analysts informed IGN that fewer individuals taking part in the sport’s veteran battle royale was solely certainly one of its issues. The corporate has spent years combating pricey authorized battles with Apple and Google, whereas bankrolling the Epic Games Retailer because it makes an attempt to rival Steam. After which there’s the explosive progress of Roblox, which Fortnite has now fallen far behind. Many followers really feel like it’s Epic Games’ personal employees which have paid the worth, whereas those that stay on the firm say they merely do not know the way Fortnite will look later this yr and past with shut to 1 / 4 of the corporate’s employees gone.
Sweeney had beforehand commented on the layoffs to spotlight the standard of expertise that his firm had simply laid off, saying that “employers will see a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime high quality of us” following Epic Games’ mass layoffs. “An necessary factor to perceive is that Epic by no means lowered our hiring requirements as we grew, and the layoff wasn’t a performance-based “rightsizing” as firms name it these days,” he concluded. “It is a sound wager that anybody with Epic Games on their resume is within the prime few p.c of their self-discipline.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You possibly can attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social