Fortnite owner praised for quietly saving 50,000 acres of wilderness from development
“How billionaires should act.”
Tim Sweeney (left), North Carolina wilderness (right).
Most know Fortnite for wild skins, victory royales, and maybe their kid who won’t stop doing emotes in public. But today the multiplayer game is trending for something very different: its billionaire owner Tim Sweeney has quietly become one of America's biggest private conservationists.
For nearly two decades, Sweeney—the founder and CEO of Epic Games, which owns Fortnite—has been buying massive tracts of North Carolina wilderness simply to keep them protected from development. According to multiple reports, he owns more than 50,000 acres across 15 counties.
His goal is simple: save large areas of land with high conservation value before developers can destroy them. He then waits for conservation groups or state agencies to take over. Some properties are sold at a discount to ensure they stay wild.
bro made Fortnite money and decided to save the actual map
— Dexrk (@dexrk) November 10, 2025
Over the years, he has donated 7,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 7,500 acres to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. In August, he worked with The Conservation Fund to help expand Mount Mitchell State Park by selling 238 acres of high-elevation forest to the state.
How Sweeney became one of North Carolina’s biggest land stewards
Most of these purchases happened when land was cheaper. As he told The News & Observer, “Most of my big conservation land purchasing breakthroughs came when the economy was in poor shape and land was prudently priced.” He added, “Since 2021, the economy has been stronger, land has become more expensive, and my focus has moved to getting large blocks of contiguous conservation lands I’ve acquired since 2009 into permanent conservation.”
He even works directly with local families who want land near their property. “In some places, long-time local families wanted land adjoining theirs for expansion, and I’ve accommodated that wherever it was compatible with conserving key natural habitat,” he said. “And in a few places, conservation plans didn’t work out and I sold stranded tracts of land to local folks.”
Fan reactions
This is certainly not the typical billionaire story we see making headlines. And people online are fully here for it.
“That kind of large-scale preservation is a powerful statement, showing that not every piece of valuable land needs to be monetized or built upon,” an X user wrote.
Another joked, “Damn dude even he prefers no build”—referencing a specific Fortnite game mode.
Someone else quipped, “Bro made Fortnite money and decided to save the actual map.”
Of course, the gesture was appreciated by more than just Fortnite fans. One person wrote, “I don’t like Fortnite, but that’s cool.”
A Threads user wrote, “how billionaires should act.”
Sweeney even posts updates about the forests he helps restore
Sweeney occasionally posts updates about restoration work, including one note about a forest project that “was a mess for 10 years, but has turned the corner.”
Turns out, behind one of the world’s biggest games is someone trying to protect the real world, too.