The head of Epic Games: "I forced Microsoft and Sony to agree"

Though Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney owns a net worth of around $8 billion, he leads a fairly modest and reclusive lifestyle. He has no family or children. His company is located far from Silicon Valley, and he himself likes to go hiking and eat at inexpensive eateries. Only once did he buy two sports cars, but then sold them as unnecessary.

And the career of an entrepreneur did not work out for him at first. While studying at university, he tried to create his own consulting business, but did not succeed. Then he came to grips with computer games: Sweeney began to be interested in programming at school. “I grew up at a time when anyone could program. My first computer was an Apple II. When you turn it on, a hint for the programming language appears. So I always felt that open platforms were the key to free markets and the future of computing,” recalls Sweeney.

This is how Epic Games was born. The real success came to Sweeney in 1998 after the release of the three-dimensional shooter Unreal, which later grew into a whole game series. At the same time, the company began selling licenses for the Unreal Engine game engine to other developers. In 2006, the company released Gears of War for the Xbox 360. In ten weeks, the game sold over 3 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling game of 2006.