Tim Sweeney

So we worked with a retail publisher, and they made a box, and they put CD-ROMs in the box, and... And then the world started transitioning back to digitally. And that transition didn't start well. The initial transition of gaming to digital was all bit torrent, all piracy.

And there are horror stories about games that would sell like 100,000 copies but have 2 million users because most people pirated it. And then Steam came along and introduced digital distribution and made digital distribution of legit games so convenient that most players moved away from piracy towards that.

And there are horror stories about games that would sell like 100,000 copies but have 2 million users because most people pirated it. And then Steam came along and introduced digital distribution and made digital distribution of legit games so convenient that most players moved away from piracy towards that.

And there are horror stories about games that would sell like 100,000 copies but have 2 million users because most people pirated it. And then Steam came along and introduced digital distribution and made digital distribution of legit games so convenient that most players moved away from piracy towards that.

And their practices were then followed by others, and the early digital industry took form.

And their practices were then followed by others, and the early digital industry took form.

And their practices were then followed by others, and the early digital industry took form.

Well, you know, one of the critical things that Epic always worked hard to do was to make something different that nobody else was doing and to try to satisfy a small audience rather than competing globally with the game juggernauts.

Well, you know, one of the critical things that Epic always worked hard to do was to make something different that nobody else was doing and to try to satisfy a small audience rather than competing globally with the game juggernauts.

Well, you know, one of the critical things that Epic always worked hard to do was to make something different that nobody else was doing and to try to satisfy a small audience rather than competing globally with the game juggernauts.

You know, back in the 1990s, Epic was new, but Electronic Arts and Activision and the other big publishers had been around for a decade, and they were huge companies that had giant retail distribution networks If I tried to make a game and then convince them to publish it, I doubt I could have had a chance.

You know, back in the 1990s, Epic was new, but Electronic Arts and Activision and the other big publishers had been around for a decade, and they were huge companies that had giant retail distribution networks If I tried to make a game and then convince them to publish it, I doubt I could have had a chance.

You know, back in the 1990s, Epic was new, but Electronic Arts and Activision and the other big publishers had been around for a decade, and they were huge companies that had giant retail distribution networks If I tried to make a game and then convince them to publish it, I doubt I could have had a chance.

And I doubt that even if I made a successful game, that I would have made much money from it, though they might have. And so the really unique angle to Epic then was shareware. And that was just the idea that if we distribute our game differently, then we can reach a much larger audience than these bigger competitors by virtue of this first episode of the game being free.

And I doubt that even if I made a successful game, that I would have made much money from it, though they might have. And so the really unique angle to Epic then was shareware. And that was just the idea that if we distribute our game differently, then we can reach a much larger audience than these bigger competitors by virtue of this first episode of the game being free.

And I doubt that even if I made a successful game, that I would have made much money from it, though they might have. And so the really unique angle to Epic then was shareware. And that was just the idea that if we distribute our game differently, then we can reach a much larger audience than these bigger competitors by virtue of this first episode of the game being free.

It was kind of the advent of what later became free-to-play. And the logic of that is just as true now as it was then. If the thing is free and anybody can get into it, then it's going to spread from friend to friend as people bring their real-world friends into the games they're playing and have the opportunity to build up a community around that.

It was kind of the advent of what later became free-to-play. And the logic of that is just as true now as it was then. If the thing is free and anybody can get into it, then it's going to spread from friend to friend as people bring their real-world friends into the games they're playing and have the opportunity to build up a community around that.

It was kind of the advent of what later became free-to-play. And the logic of that is just as true now as it was then. If the thing is free and anybody can get into it, then it's going to spread from friend to friend as people bring their real-world friends into the games they're playing and have the opportunity to build up a community around that.

So the other lesson there was minimize the friction of people getting into your game. Make it easy to get into and make it fun. I was very fortunate. ZZT was a funny game. It was not much like any other game. It had much worse graphics because it was all just text characters, smiley faces, and other Greek letters and things participating in this game simulation.