#467 – Tim Sweeney: Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and the Future of Gaming

Tim Sweeney is a legendary video game programmer, founder and CEO of Epic Games that created the Unreal Engine, Fortnite, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, and many other groundbreaking and influential video games. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep467-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/tim-sweeney-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Tim’s X: https://x.com/timsweeneyepic Epic Games: https://epicgames.com/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Notion: Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://notion.com/lex MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (08:25) – 10,000 hours programming (11:42) – Advice for young programmers (19:54) – Video games in the 80s and 90s (22:02) – Epic Games origin story (34:40) – Indie game development (40:34) – Unreal Engine (1:06:30) – Technical details of Unreal Engine (1:11:23) – Constructive solid geometry (1:17:21) – Dynamic lighting (1:21:51) – Volumetric fog (1:25:19) – John Carmack (1:27:05) – Evolution of Unreal Engine (1:33:21) – Unreal Engine 5 (1:44:32) – Creating realistic humans (1:53:41) – Lumen global illumination (1:58:11) – Movies (2:12:53) – Simulating reality (2:25:08) – Metaverse (2:27:44) – Fortnite (2:31:40) – Scaling (2:47:04) – Game economies (2:48:33) – Standardizing the Metaverse (2:56:46) – Verse programming language (3:18:19) – Concurrency (3:25:56) – Unreal Engine 6 (3:30:34) – Indie game developers (3:33:32) – Apple (3:48:12) – Epic Games Store (4:11:03) – Future of gaming (4:17:03) – Greatest games ever made (4:22:39) – GTA 6 and Rockstar Games (4:25:58) – Hope for the future PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips SOCIAL LINKS: – X: https://x.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman – TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman – Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman – Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman – Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman