The massive layoff wave from Epic Games is leading to criticism in the industry. Now, a veteran who worked for Valve for a long time speaks out on the topic and criticizes Tim Sweeney directly. He explains why Gabe Newell does everything better with Valve.
Who is the Steam veteran? In a YouTube video, Chet Faliszek spoke out after Epic Games announced on March 24, 2026, that it would lay off 1,000 employees. He was a writer for various titles from Valve, such as Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead.
In the video, he harshly criticizes Epic CEO Tim Sweeney for the layoffs and praises Valve CEO Gabe Newell and Steam to the high heavens.
You no longer care about creating things
How does Faliszek criticize the Epic CEO? In his seven-minute video, he starts off quite strongly. First of all, he wonders why anyone should still work hard at Epic Games. He directly attacks Tim Sweeney, saying that he has developed to only make one game and invest all his time in it to make as much money as possible.
This is where the comparison with Gabe begins. Faliszek says: And I guess, hey, Tim, Gabe can do it better than you. I don’t know what to tell you, man, because you no longer care about creating things.
He continues to say that he doesn’t know if he would have the motivation to work hard at Epic or any other large publisher (he mentions EA as an example) if he can just be laid off, even if a game is successful.
He again praises Valve significantly. Faliszek explains:
I could retire, I worked my ass off at Valve and could retire today. I have made more money than I will ever make. And the money I earned is nothing compared to what the people who were there longer than I or before me made.
In this context, he describes that he felt connected with Valve back in the day and worked hard. His projects meant a lot to him, as did the people he worked with.
Later, he attacks Tim Sweeney again and criticizes that he first raised the V-Buck prices and then laid off 1,000 people. For Faliszek, this shows why the industry is in its current state.
According to him, the industry is losing care and passion. This scares him, and in his opinion, the way experienced employees are treated should change: I would much rather care for the people, reward them, show them that their hard work matters: And they will engage and work hard.
So far, Tim Sweeney has not commented on Faliszek’s harsh video. The massive layoff wave from Epic Games affected developers who had worked there for many years. This also included an important artist who worked with Fortnite: Fortnite loses its face, firing the artist of the most well-known character
