The crash in the game business nowadays is the first for the new generation of gamers, but only one of several in the history of games. Here are my thoughts from 2000 when a maker of beloved but long-unprofitable games went under.
Tim Sweeny's comment on the closure of Looking Glass Studios.
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This is a challenge all game makers face, and it's magnified during downturns.
The solution? Make a great game, make it efficiently, and set the budget based on to the size of the audience that will pay for it.
Technology that helps achieve that is, in my opinion, good.
The solution? Make a great game, make it efficiently, and set the budget based on to the size of the audience that will pay for it.
Technology that helps achieve that is, in my opinion, good.
Oct 23, 2026 · 8:55 AM UTC
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@TimSweeneyEpicgame studios are businesses first, and games with soul might end up getting shut down. But the games that made us fall in love with gaming aren’t always the ones that sell the most. I hope AI will enable small teams to make the games big studios are too scared to make.
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@TimSweeneyEpic Tim, you are defending a broken industry where executives earn hundreds of millions of dollars while teams struggle and get fired. And your answer is more efficiency with AI, so that executives can continue to get away with wrong decisions on their golden parachutes
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@TimSweeneyEpic So what you propose is use AI, make a game as cheap as possible and sell it for as high a price as possible. Because that is what is happening in the industry
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@TimSweeneyEpic They ironic thing is that many of those who talk about what a tragedy it is when makers of niche and innovative games go under, turn their nose up at the very tech(AI) that is most likely to free people to make the niche and innovative games they want with a ton less expense.
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@TimSweeneyEpic That game will be instantly copied. True artists are going to finally make games because they won't need coders anymore. And they won't need engines either. They will prompt and the AI will use whatever it takes to make the vision happen. And Artists will make their own tools.
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@TimSweeneyEpic Still it has a better legacy than many long lasting franchises or commercial hits. Business is not all there is to it in this medium, Tim.
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@TimSweeneyEpic I’m part of the audience that pays for Fortnite, but right now I pay for GeForce now instead of crew due to the fact that Fortnite is not available on MacOS
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@TimSweeneyEpic Gotcha so if Ai can do better job than you, will you resign?
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@TimSweeneyEpic Hey Tim, I'm writing an article about the state of the industry and I appreciate your takes! Would you be up for answering some written questions? If so, send me a DM (your inbox is closed).
/Journalist in Sweden, we met here in 2024 but I don't expect you to remember that 🤠
/Journalist in Sweden, we met here in 2024 but I don't expect you to remember that 🤠
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@TimSweeneyEpic Your lack of critical thinking hurts to watch. People are resources, and you're wasting them and throwing them away because you don't know how to build. It's so frustrating watching you squander the opportunity you have to make the industry better.
What a waste.
What a waste.
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@TimSweeneyEpic The solution is making a game without the use of generative AI and not downsizing. But keep “vibe coding” and maybe eventually like windows 11 you’ll get it to work.
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@TimSweeneyEpic You can just say it’s all about profit, it’s not too hard to figure it out why cutting corners is so important to you
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@TimSweeneyEpic your argument is that beloved games still have to make financial sense. isn't refusing to sell highly requested old BP cosmetics leaving potential revenue on the table? test the demand, measure the results, and let the numbers decide instead of assuming exclusivity is worth more.
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@TimSweeneyEpicrect meritocracy based approach.
One of the problems in this area was the middle management social alignment games. Not only corporate side, but community side
This meant that building a good game in the last era was -not enough-
I agree with your sentiment though. This is a necessary market correction
One of the problems in this area was the middle management social alignment games. Not only corporate side, but community side
This meant that building a good game in the last era was -not enough-
I agree with your sentiment though. This is a necessary market correction
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@TimSweeneyEpic I think we'll be seeing lots of "demo" versions sold as stubs of games, where developers will probe the market, see if the public "bites", and then invest more into whatever gets traction. Casting a bigger net. Which means even more games made by even more developers.
Gamers:
Gamers:
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@TimSweeneyEpic If only most games weren’t woke disasters these days
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@TimSweeneyEpic You’re missing price though. As content goes to infinity w/ ai, price approaches zero.
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@TimSweeneyEpic The reality of business: Answering to a funder or major shareholder, monitoring the cash drawdowns, feature burndowns, cost per asset, cost per scene. And then reconciling that with the emotion of a video game, late nights, iffy compromises. That is very hard, that is game dev
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@TimSweeneyEpicenge all creatives face. There’s a push/pull between making something that you yourself want vs what a potential audience might want. But I definitely agree on setting the budget based on the audience that will pay for it. Often forgotten once you get into "oh, it would be cool if we add this!" :)
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@TimSweeneyEpic I'm really curious to how you think AI will lead to a more efficient pipeline and respectable budgets
I thought efficiently made games within budget became a bit of an art on its own and we have a good dozen of companies which follow that mindset
I thought efficiently made games within budget became a bit of an art on its own and we have a good dozen of companies which follow that mindset
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@TimSweeneyEpic Budget to the audience that will actually pay. Simple advice that half the industry ignores until its too late.
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@TimSweeneyEpic So a douchey roundabout way to pat yourself on the back for the AI pivot? Cooooool.
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@TimSweeneyEpic Agree on this. Make a great game, make it efficiently, size the team and budget to the opportunity. We've been living that for years. Keep building
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@TimSweeneyEpic Developers have to play the real world business game. Financial planning is crucial along with proper marketing. Automation and AI make the business side more feasible but it still comes down to a good game with humans as the ultimate judge of fun and quality-not AI.
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@TimSweeneyEpic Tim is right again. This industry has a troubled history with business fundamentals. A studio can make hits, but never all the time. A studio must be managed in such a way that the next flop doesn't put everyone out of a job.
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@TimSweeneyEpic AI will make the kinds of niche games viable again
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@TimSweeneyEpic Looking Glass made only good games. You just appreciate dollar signs more.
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@TimSweeneyEpic I feel heard unfortunately but did you actually read my tweet or did you just see collective?
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@TimSweeneyEpic Only low game development costs can support those niche games.
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@TimSweeneyEpic I’m convinced we’ll develop a lot faster with AI but do you think also cheaper, or does the cost of tokens offset number of employees?
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@TimSweeneyEpic This is where use of AI will really shine, empowering small dev teams with limited budgets to still make extremely ambitious games for a limited audience.
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@TimSweeneyEpic See and I would agree with this if you weren't trying to push AI.
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