Epic Video games has mentioned it would “remedy” the insurance coverage of a former Fortnite worker dwelling with terminal most cancers, following widespread criticism of the corporate’s resolution to put them off.
Mike Prinke, a programmer who had labored at Epic Video games for seven years, was one of many many workers members caught up in Epic Video 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 state of affairs rapidly stoked additional fury from followers on the workers cuts, and has now prompted a response from Epic Video games boss Tim Sweeney, who mentioned the corporate was now “involved with the household [to] remedy the insurance coverage for them.”
“My husband, Mike, was just lately laid off together with over 1,000 others at Epic Video games,” she wrote in a publish on Fb. “What makes this completely different for our household is that Mike is presently preventing 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 of 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 sort of funeral/burial I can afford. How I’ll preserve a roof over our heads. How I’ll shield our son and the life we constructed collectively. What’s going to occur to our canines… Mike isn’t just a quantity. He’s a father. A husband. An individual deploy beloved… We’re operating out of time, and I am attempting all the pieces I can to guard my household “
Responding to feedback on her publish, 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 state of affairs, which result in Sweeney in the end responding.
“Epic is involved with the household and can remedy the insurance coverage for them,” Sweeney wrote, responding to BackersGamesF through a publish on X/Twitter. “There’s excessive confidentiality round medical data and it was not an element on this layoff resolution. Sorry to everybody for not recognizing this terribly painful state of affairs and dealing with it prematurely.”
Saying the layoffs final week, Sweeney mentioned Epic Video games had reacted to a downturn in curiosity for Fortnite that started in 2025, although analysts advised IGN that fewer folks taking part in the sport’s veteran battle royale was solely considered one of its issues. The corporate has spent years preventing pricey authorized battles with Apple and Google, whereas bankrolling the Epic Video 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 Video games’ personal workers 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 near 1 / 4 of the corporate’s workers 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 people” following Epic Video games’ mass layoffs. “An essential factor to grasp 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 Video games on their resume is within the high 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
