Tim Sweeney to join AIAS Hall of Fame

Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney is to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame this February, the event’s organiser has announced.

Sweeney, who founded the company as ‘Potomac Computer Systems’ in 1991, has for two decades had a near-matchless influence on the scope and sophistication of game development engines.

Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein said Sweeney’s “sense of fairness and doing what’s right, not just for Epic but for the industry as a whole, makes him so admired among the people who know him".

Rein added: "Many people in the game industry are aware of what a brilliant technical visionary he is, but what they might not realise is that he is also a great leader and thinks deeply about how to use technology to empower artists and creatives to be successful and realise their vision.”

Sweeney is to become the 16th inductee to the AIAS Hall of Fame, joining industry luminaries such as Will Wright, Richard Garriott, Peter Molyneux and Sid Meier.

He will be given the honour at the 2012 DICE Summit in February.