TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,980
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
"I worked my ass off at Valve, and I could retire today. I made more money than I'll ever make."
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Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek, who left the company in 2017 and whose credits include the Half-Life 2 episodes, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, has taken aim at Epic over the latest round of swingeing layoffs imposed by the company. Over 1000 people are out of a job, while Epic CEO Tim Sweeney arguably rubbed salt in the wound by saying other companies would now be able to hire all these high quality staff.
"Can someone explain this to me," begins Faliszek on TikTok. "Why anybody who works at Epic should work hard? Cause Epic just laid off 1,000 people. And it's gonna shut down Fortnite Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Festival Battle stage, whatever that is. Who knows?
"It's not like they're a publicly traded company. It's not like there's some need to hit the stock market thing. This is Tim Sweeney. This is Tim. A thousand people is more than [the number] who work at Valve."
Faliszek doesn't hold back, and proceeds to rain down scorn on Sweeney in particular.
"And so Tim has gone from making games to making one game, spending all his time doing that and trying to make as much money as possible," says Faliszek. "And I guess well, hey, Tim, Gabe's better at that than you. I don't know what to tell you, man, because you stopped caring about making things."
It's worth bearing in mind that Faliszek may feel a little protective towards his former boss, because Sweeney's never been shy of picking a fight (in 2017, Valve's COO internally replied to Newell about a Sweeney rant simply saying: "you mad bro?"). Since the launch of the Epic Games Store, Sweeney has heavily criticized the cut of Steam sales Valve takes—20%-30% today—arguing that it's a "bad deal for developers" that hurts PC gaming.
"You just make one game. If you work there, maybe you really love that game. But how do you have any agency? How do you have any ownership when you're just gonna get laid off like this?
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
"When I worked at Valve, I owned Valve," says Faliszek. "It was my company. I don't know if you know that, and some people may laugh about this."
It's not 100% clear what Faliszek means here, because Valve remains a private company, th...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek, who left the company in 2017 and whose credits include the Half-Life 2 episodes, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, has taken aim at Epic over the latest round of swingeing layoffs imposed by the company. Over 1000 people are out of a job, while Epic CEO Tim Sweeney arguably rubbed salt in the wound by saying other companies would now be able to hire all these high quality staff.
"Can someone explain this to me," begins Faliszek on TikTok. "Why anybody who works at Epic should work hard? Cause Epic just laid off 1,000 people. And it's gonna shut down Fortnite Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Festival Battle stage, whatever that is. Who knows?
"It's not like they're a publicly traded company. It's not like there's some need to hit the stock market thing. This is Tim Sweeney. This is Tim. A thousand people is more than [the number] who work at Valve."
Faliszek doesn't hold back, and proceeds to rain down scorn on Sweeney in particular.
"And so Tim has gone from making games to making one game, spending all his time doing that and trying to make as much money as possible," says Faliszek. "And I guess well, hey, Tim, Gabe's better at that than you. I don't know what to tell you, man, because you stopped caring about making things."
It's worth bearing in mind that Faliszek may feel a little protective towards his former boss, because Sweeney's never been shy of picking a fight (in 2017, Valve's COO internally replied to Newell about a Sweeney rant simply saying: "you mad bro?"). Since the launch of the Epic Games Store, Sweeney has heavily criticized the cut of Steam sales Valve takes—20%-30% today—arguing that it's a "bad deal for developers" that hurts PC gaming.
"You just make one game. If you work there, maybe you really love that game. But how do you have any agency? How do you have any ownership when you're just gonna get laid off like this?
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
"When I worked at Valve, I owned Valve," says Faliszek. "It was my company. I don't know if you know that, and some people may laugh about this."
It's not 100% clear what Faliszek means here, because Valve remains a private company, th...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?