Epic's founder has stated that the company's exclusivity deals on the Epic Games Store would come to an end if only Valve altered Steam's revenue cuts for developers.

One of the biggest ongoing stories in 2019 has involved Fortnite developer Epic Games and its continued purchasing of timed-exclusivity for sale of certain games on its digital marketplace, the Epic Games Store. These deals, which have included the likes of The Division 2, Metro Exodus, and many others, have occurred quite frequently over the past few months since the store’s launch in December 2018.

Now, Epic’s founder Tim Sweeney says that the company would consider halting these exclusivity deals if only its primary competitor, that of Valve’s Steam platform, would consider increasing its revenue sharing percentage. Sweeney stated this on Twitter in a recent conversation related to the Epic Games Store.

“If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached, Epic would hastily organize a retreat from exclusives (while honoring our partner commitments) and consider putting our own games on Steam,” Sweeney wrote.

For those unaware, the Epic Games Store gives developers an 88% cut of revenue from sales that occur on the platform, compared to Valve’s Steam platform which only comes in at 70%. One of Epic’s supposed reasons for being so aggressive in pursuing exclusivity deals has been to directly combat the near-monopoly that Steam has in the PC space when it comes to the sale of digital games.

Sweeney also went on to say that this potential decision from Valve would have lasting ramifications for years to come. “Such a move would be a glorious moment in the history of PC gaming, and would have a sweeping impact on other platforms for generations to come,” Sweeney stated in a follow-up tweet.

Whether or not you like the Epic Games Store as a platform or not, it’s hard to disagree with Sweeney that Valve increasing its revenue sharing percentages would be anything but great news for developers and publishers alike. Still, it’s hard at the moment to envision Valve changing its current model on Steam. Even though there has been a lot of noise surrounding this situation between Valve and Epic over the past few months, Valve has largely opted to remain silent on the matter and stay with its current course.



Posted: Apr 26, 2019 9:09 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/epic-games-store-exclusivity-tim-sweeney-steam/