Tim Sweeney

Timothy Dean Sweeney, born in 1970 in Potomac, Maryland, is an American video game programmer, businessman, and conservationist. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Epic Games, the company behind the global gaming phenomenon Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, a widely used game development platform .

Early Life and Education

Sweeney developed an interest in programming at a young age. At 11, he visited his older brother's startup in California, where he had access to early IBM Personal Computers. He spent the week there learning BASIC and establishing his interest in programming. Later, he attended the University of Maryland, where he studied mechanical engineering. During his college years, he founded Potomac Computer Systems, a consulting business, which he later transformed into Epic Games .

Career and Achievements

In 1991, Sweeney founded Epic Games (originally Potomac Computer Systems) and released ZZT, a shareware game that gained popularity and laid the foundation for the company's future success. He later developed the Unreal Engine, which debuted in 1998 and became a cornerstone of modern game development .

Under Sweeney's leadership, Epic Games launched Fortnite in 2017, a free-to-play battle royale game that quickly became a cultural phenomenon, attracting millions of players worldwide. The game's success significantly contributed to Sweeney's wealth and the company's prominence in the gaming industry .

Personal Life and Conservation Efforts

Sweeney is also known for his conservation efforts. He has purchased large tracts of land in North Carolina, including the Box Creek Wilderness, to preserve natural habitats. In 2021, he donated 7,500 acres in the Roan Highlands to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, marking the largest private land donation in the state's history .

Net Worth

As of September 2025, Sweeney's net worth is estimated at $5.1 billion, according to Forbes .

Recent Developments

In June 2025, Epic Games achieved a significant legal victory over Apple, resulting in the return of Fortnite to the iOS App Store after a nearly five-year absence. The court ruling dismantled Apple's restrictive App Store policies, allowing developers more freedom in directing users to external payment methods .

Additionally, Disney announced a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games to create a "games and entertainment universe" incorporating its popular franchises such as Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. This move represents Disney's substantial entry into the gaming industry, aiming to expand its growth and presence .

Tim Sweeney's Recent Endeavors and Legal Victory
Articles by the author

VR as a display technology, as it's miniaturized and made comfortable and mainstream, will be a replacement for all other forms of display technology, input and output. So for anybody who works with computers all day, this is going to be our future.

Tim Sweeney

We're not just limited by technology but by our ideas and our experimentation and how quickly we can try things.

Tim Sweeney

While most game developers are focused entirely on what they're shipping in a year or two, a technology developer like Epic has to look much further out and plan many years ahead.

Tim Sweeney

I think it's necessary for VR to start with an early adopter audience that's highly engaged, and I think that means gamers. They're the ones who have the high-end hardware and the expertise and the patience to sort through the uncertainty of it all.

Tim Sweeney

'Fortnite' has, I think, the most positive gamer community that's ever emerged from a game at this scale. I think it's partly because of the great community and partly because of the tone set by the game.

Tim Sweeney