Kegan MooneyThe recent round of gaming industry woes has been hard to ignore. From gaming AI scandals to companies closing their doors, to thousands of employees. The latest to do so was Epic Games, which recently laid off more than 1,000 workers, claiming that the move was to combat the recent downturn in players on Fortnite and, therefore, revenue.
While more than 1,000 employees have been impacted by the Epic layoffs, there aren’t as many who have been hit as hard as seasoned developer Mike Prinke and his family. Only a few days after the announcement, Mike Prinke’s wife took to Facebook, and before long, it was shared across X (formerly Twitter) to share how the news had impacted her family.
In her post, Jenni explains that “because of the layoff, we didn’t just lose income – we lost his life insurance.” Mike, who has terminal brain cancer, was part of the large group of employees impacted by the layoffs this month, and while battling terminal brain cancer and losing your job might seem bad enough, it also had a huge impact on his family, as Mike has now also lost his life insurance.
As well as sharing the news, Jenni went on to say, “I’m also facing the reality of what type of funeral/burial I can afford … I truly believe that if the people who made this decision understood the full human impact, they would not have intended this outcome.”
Due to Mike’s failing health, his chances of getting life insurance now are pretty much zero, which is why Jenni made her plea in the hope that her post on Facebook would get to the right people. Luckily, it didn’t take long before it caught the attention of Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, who announced that the company is in the middle of “solving the insurance” issues, stating that there’s a “high confidentiality around medical information”, something that isn’t considered during layoffs.
Jenni has since confirmed that Epic Games has reached out and will offer an update as soon as possible. But considering Tim Sweeney has claimed they will “solve the insurance for them,” hopefully, the issue will be resolved soon, and the family can finally get some peace of mind.
Our thoughts are with Mike, Jenni, and their family during these difficult times.
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