Timothy Dean Sweeney (born 1970) is an American video game programmer and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Epic Games, and the creator of Unreal Engine, a game development platform.
Early life
Sweeney was raised in Potomac, Maryland, the youngest of three brothers. At a young age, he became interested in tinkering with mechanical and electrical devices, and stated he had taken apart a lawnmower as early as five or six, and later built his own go-kart. He became interested in arcade games when they began to become popular in the late 1970s, knowing that like the mechanical devices he took apart and repaired, there were those that had programmed the games in the machines. Though the family got an Atari 2600, Sweeney was not as interested in the games for that, outside of Adventure, and later said he had not played many video games in his life and very few to completion. With the success of Unreal, the company relocated to North Carolina in 1999, and changed its name to Epic Games.
Conservation and philanthropy
Since the real estate bubble collapsed in 2008, Sweeney has used his fortune to purchase large tracts of land in North Carolina, reportedly for conservation, becoming one of the largest private landowners in the state. As of November 2025, he has bought 50,000 acres of forest land including the Box Creek Wilderness, a 7,000-acre natural area that contains more than 130 rare and threatened plants and wildlife species. Sweeney, who had paid $15 million for Box Creek Wilderness, donated the conservation easement to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016. This acreage, valued at tens of millions of dollars, is the largest private conservation land donation in the history of North Carolina. Over nearly two decades, he has used his wealth to conserve natural land and later transfer it to conservation groups, prioritizing environmental protection over profit or publicity.
Awards and recognition
Wired magazine awarded him a Rave Award in 2007 for his work on Unreal Engine 3, the technology behind the 2006 game Gears of War.
In February 2012, Sweeney was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.
In 2017, Sweeney was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.
At the Forbes Media Awards 2020, Sweeney was chosen as Person of the Year for building and turning Fortnite into a social network with his company.
Personal life
Sweeney lives in Cary, North Carolina.
Since 2006, Sweeney has filed several patents related to computer software.