Fortnite boss to ‘solve’ life insurance after laying off terminally ill employee

Fortnite isn’t in a healthy state (Picture: Epic Games)

The CEO of Epic Games has vowed to help a terminally ill employee with their life insurance after laying them off earlier this month.

While layoffs within the games industry have been unfortunately common for years, the recent cuts at Fortnite developer Epic Games still came as a surprise.

Fortnite is one of the biggest games in the world but despite its success, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney admitted the company had been spending ‘significantly’ more money than the game has been making, leading to over 1,000 job cuts earlier this month.

One employee affected by these layoffs was programmer Mike Prinke, who has terminal brain cancer.

Following the layoffs, Mike’s wife Jenni Griffin posted on Facebook about the impact of the job loss, writing: ‘Because of the layoff, we didn’t just lose income – we lost his life insurance. And because his condition is now considered a pre-existing condition, he can’t get new coverage.

‘So now, as I face the reality of losing my husband… I’m also facing the reality of what type of funeral/burial I can afford. How I will keep a roof over our heads. How I will protect our son and the life we built together. What will happen to our dogs.’

After the post went viral on social media, Epic’s CEO responded on X, stating that the company had been in contact with the family to ‘solve’ their life insurance.

‘Epic is in contact with the family and will solve the insurance for them,’ Sweeney wrote on X. ‘There is high confidentiality around medical information and it was not a factor in the layoff decision. Sorry to everyone for not recognising this terribly painful situation and handling it in advance.’

According to a report on Kotaku, Mike’s condition wasn’t a secret at the company and he had previously taken paid leave. ‘Everyone he worked with knows,’ Griffin told the outlet.

In the original announcement post regarding the layoffs, Sweeney said those impacted will receive a severance package with at least four months of base pay. Additionally, in the US, those affected will receive paid healthcare coverage for six months.

Following the layoffs, a developer at Epic Games has warned that these losses might have a notable impact on Fortnite’s future. As part of the job cuts, three of Fortnite’s gameplay modes, including Fortnite Festival and Rocket Racing, are set to be shut down later this year.

Fortnite has been hit by the downturn too (Epic Games)

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