Tim Sweeney

I looked at money always just as a tool to help you fund accomplishing cool things. And having enough to do the things you want to do is the critical thing. It's always been just very utilitarian. But the knowledge that other people all around the country and then a month later all around the world were playing the game, that was mind-boggling.

That me, like this little kid who'd put out a game on a local bulletin board, could be doing international business and chipping discs all over the world to players because the software was spreading on its own. It was just magical. And that was a new thing for software. That did not happen with mechanical devices. You manufactured one, you sold it to somebody, and they had it, and that was it.

That me, like this little kid who'd put out a game on a local bulletin board, could be doing international business and chipping discs all over the world to players because the software was spreading on its own. It was just magical. And that was a new thing for software. That did not happen with mechanical devices. You manufactured one, you sold it to somebody, and they had it, and that was it.

That me, like this little kid who'd put out a game on a local bulletin board, could be doing international business and chipping discs all over the world to players because the software was spreading on its own. It was just magical. And that was a new thing for software. That did not happen with mechanical devices. You manufactured one, you sold it to somebody, and they had it, and that was it.

But software could spread. That was just really cool to see, and it made me realize there's really no upward limit on the potential for a business like that. We saw Microsoft as the big juggernaut company at the time, but it was like, hey, if Epic does games good enough, we could accomplish what they've accomplished with operating systems. And the sky was the limit.

But software could spread. That was just really cool to see, and it made me realize there's really no upward limit on the potential for a business like that. We saw Microsoft as the big juggernaut company at the time, but it was like, hey, if Epic does games good enough, we could accomplish what they've accomplished with operating systems. And the sky was the limit.

But software could spread. That was just really cool to see, and it made me realize there's really no upward limit on the potential for a business like that. We saw Microsoft as the big juggernaut company at the time, but it was like, hey, if Epic does games good enough, we could accomplish what they've accomplished with operating systems. And the sky was the limit.

And I think this is the age we live in now. You don't have to be an industrialist manufacturing physical products. Anybody who builds anything digitally, if it's good enough, you can reach the entire world and build anything. Next Microsoft or Meta or Apple or Google or Epic Games.

And I think this is the age we live in now. You don't have to be an industrialist manufacturing physical products. Anybody who builds anything digitally, if it's good enough, you can reach the entire world and build anything. Next Microsoft or Meta or Apple or Google or Epic Games.

And I think this is the age we live in now. You don't have to be an industrialist manufacturing physical products. Anybody who builds anything digitally, if it's good enough, you can reach the entire world and build anything. Next Microsoft or Meta or Apple or Google or Epic Games.

Yeah, and a bunch of learnings emerged really quickly there. The neat thing I did with CZT was I didn't just release the game. I also released the editor with it. I built this tool so I could make these CZT boards that people could play, but I also gave it to all of the players themselves. And 30 years later, I still run into people. When I go to a game industry event, it was like,

Yeah, and a bunch of learnings emerged really quickly there. The neat thing I did with CZT was I didn't just release the game. I also released the editor with it. I built this tool so I could make these CZT boards that people could play, but I also gave it to all of the players themselves. And 30 years later, I still run into people. When I go to a game industry event, it was like,

Yeah, and a bunch of learnings emerged really quickly there. The neat thing I did with CZT was I didn't just release the game. I also released the editor with it. I built this tool so I could make these CZT boards that people could play, but I also gave it to all of the players themselves. And 30 years later, I still run into people. When I go to a game industry event, it was like,

I grew up playing ZZT, and here's an adult who grew up playing my game. It was because it enabled anybody to become a creator, too. It had this little board editor, and it also had a little scripting language, so you could learn a little bit of programming in it, too.

I grew up playing ZZT, and here's an adult who grew up playing my game. It was because it enabled anybody to become a creator, too. It had this little board editor, and it also had a little scripting language, so you could learn a little bit of programming in it, too.

I grew up playing ZZT, and here's an adult who grew up playing my game. It was because it enabled anybody to become a creator, too. It had this little board editor, and it also had a little scripting language, so you could learn a little bit of programming in it, too.

It really set a formative principle of Epic, which was that the company's mission is to make awesome entertainment, but also awesome tools, and to share those tools with everybody so that they can build their own amazing things, too.

It really set a formative principle of Epic, which was that the company's mission is to make awesome entertainment, but also awesome tools, and to share those tools with everybody so that they can build their own amazing things, too.

It really set a formative principle of Epic, which was that the company's mission is to make awesome entertainment, but also awesome tools, and to share those tools with everybody so that they can build their own amazing things, too.

And when we got into Unreal Engine a few years later, the interplay between us building a game and us building tools that were widely used by others was a critical part of that. And I think that's the sole reason that Epic has been massively successful.