Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has apologized after the company’s latest layoffs affected Mike Prinke, an Epic employee undergoing treatment for terminal brain cancer.
In a reply on X, Sweeney said Epic is in contact with Prinke’s family and will resolve the insurance issue. He added that Epic did not factor medical information into the layoff decision, but should have recognized the situation earlier and handled it in advance.
Sweeney’s reply:
Epic is in contact with the family and will solve the insurance for them. 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.
Last week, Epic announced it was laying off more than 1,000 employees. In a note published on Epic’s website, Sweeney said the cuts were driven by a downturn in Fortnite engagement that began in 2025, with the company “spending significantly more than” it was making. He said the layoffs, along with more than $500 million in identified savings across contracting, marketing, and open roles, were intended to stabilize the business.
Epic said impacted employees would receive at least four months of base pay, with more based on tenure, along with extended Epic-paid healthcare coverage. In the U.S., the company said that meant six months of paid healthcare coverage.
But this wasn’t sufficient for Mike Prinke, who suffers from terminal brain cancer. His wife, Jenni Griffin, posted that the family lost his life insurance after the job cut, and that he could not secure new coverage because his cancer is now considered a pre-existing condition.
Prinke worked as a Technical Writer on the UE documentation team and dealt with API reference, platform, and programming docs. Griffin also said his condition was not unknown internally, adding that people he worked with were aware of his treatments and ongoing medical appointments.
This is the Epic’s second major workforce reduction in roughly three years, following the 2023 cuts that eliminated 830 jobs.
While it’s good that Sweeney and Epic are doing the right thing, it still highlights how hands-off the layoff processes were at the company. Taking care of a dying employee who spent seven years at your multi-billion-dollar company is just something that needs to be done, no questions asked.
