Chet Faliszek, a prolific former writer at Valve, has publicly criticized Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney over recent layoffs of more than 1,000 staff. Faliszek questioned why employees should work hard at the company, pointing to the absence of shareholder pressure and the shutdown of several Fortnite modes. He contrasted Epic's approach with Valve's emphasis on employee agency.
Chet Faliszek, known for his work on Valve titles including Half-Life, spoke out on TikTok against Epic Games' decision to cut over 1,000 jobs, announced earlier this week amid a downturn in Fortnite engagement. One developer described the layoffs as 'a brutal day' that left them 'absolutely devastated' (PC Gamer). Epic is also shutting down Fortnite modes including Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Festival Battle stage, Faliszek noted. 'It's not like they're a publicly traded company. It's not like there's some need to hit the stock market thing. This is Tim Sweeney. This is Tim,' he said. Faliszek highlighted that the 1,000 layoffs exceed Valve's entire staff size and accused Sweeney of shifting focus from making games to maximizing profits from Fortnite. 'Gabe's better at that than you,' he remarked, referring to Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. Faliszek praised Valve for granting developers agency and ownership, which he said fostered dedication and retention of staff from projects like Half-Life. 'I worked my ass off at Valve, and I cared about the things I made... To be clear, I could retire, I worked my ass off at Valve, and I could retire today,' he added. In contrast, he criticized Epic and Electronic Arts for abrupt layoffs, citing EA's treatment after Battlefield 6 outperformed Call of Duty. Faliszek lamented the loss of Epic's veteran staff and referenced Sweeney's purchase of Bandcamp alongside V-bucks price hikes. 'I sure as hell wouldn't go work at a place that I didn't think respected me and wouldn't reward that,' he concluded.
