In September 2026, Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, stated that due to the large-scale acquisition of chips and other key components by AI industry capital, prices for memory and storage had skyrocketed to four times their normal levels. This imbalance in supply and demand led to a continuous shortage of global game hardware supplies over the next three years. Combined with the soaring costs of developing 3A games and increased internal development expenses, the gaming industry faced its most serious crisis since the major collapse of Atari in 1983. Sweeney referred to this as ‘Crasher 2.0’. To address the capacity shortage, Sweeney proposed building new large-scale factories to meet market demand.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney noted that AI-induced surges in demand for components have led to a fourfold increase in the prices of memory and storage. The gaming industry is facing the worst “Crash 2.0” crisis since the major collapse of Atari in 1983. Sweeney believes that the external AI investment boom has raised bidding prices, combined with rising internal development costs, resulting in a continuous shortage of global gaming hardware supply chains over the next three years. He suggested that the solution is to build large new factories to meet production needs.
In September 2026, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated that the gaming industry was facing the worst crisis since the collapse of Atari in 1983, calling it “Big Collapse 2.0”. The main causes of this crisis included the soaring costs of developing 3A games and global shortages of components. The large-scale acquisition of chips and other key components by the AI industry led to a quadrupling of prices for memory and storage, and these shortages were expected to continue for three years. Sweeney called for the construction of new factories to rebuild the supply chain.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney noted that AI-induced shortages of components have caused prices for memory and storage to skyrocket fourfold, and the gaming industry is facing the worst “Crisis 2.0” since the major collapse of Atari in 1983. Sweeney believes that the surge in external AI investment has overwhelmed the supply chain of the entertainment industry, and there will be continuous shortages of gaming hardware globally over the next three years. He suggested that the solution is to build large new factories to meet production demands.