Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney spoke at the State of Unreal event yesterday about challenges in the triple-A game sector.
Sweeney described the industry as being in a time of both crisis and opportunity. He noted that many major releases are struggling, with development costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars often followed by only tens of millions in revenue.
The executive pointed to shifts in how players engage with games, including a move toward social experiences where friends decide together what to play. He cited data showing that the top five most-played games on PlayStation in the US remained unchanged from 2024 to 2025.
Sweeney raised concerns about centralized platforms like Roblox, which he said could take more than 70 percent of revenue from 450 million users. He also discussed competition for player attention from social media and other services.
Looking ahead, Sweeney advocated for greater use of Unreal Engine to create connected games and shared assets across titles. Epic plans to demonstrate this with Unreal Engine 6, enabling cross-game use of items such as Fortnite skins.
