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Tim Sweeney Claims Epic Games Would Retreat from Exclusive Purchasing if Valve Commit to 88% Revenue Share

Tim Sweeney Claims Epic Games Would Retreat from Exclusive Purchasing if Valve Commit to 88% Revenue Share - News

by Adam Cartwright , posted on 25 April 2019 / 2,076 Views

Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games - who have recently been making headlines by purchasing timed exclusivity deals for their Epic Games Store on PC - has claimed when asked on Twitter that if Valve agreed to an 88% revenue share with developers and publishers on Steam, Epic Games would "retreat" from purchasing exclusives and consider putting their own titles up on the rival platform.

He followed this up by claiming that 30% store dominance is the "#1 problem for PC developers & publishers", referencing the fact that Valve takes a whopping 30% cut for titles sold on their Steam platform.

The figure has been the source of some contention recently, with a GDC poll of developers suggesting just 6% felt that Valve had justified taking this amount.


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8 Comments
KoyomiAraragi (on 25 April 2019)

This guys underhanded tactics are amazingly smart. Come out with this statment, appear to be on the side of developers, indie and AAA. Pushing Valve to do two things, either comply and lose integrity - to be known as the store that did what Epic told them to do, or don't do it and look like the bad guy. In short, Valve has no way out, and either way Tim Swiney looks like a hero. Things definitely need to change with Valve and the cut they take, but this is the absoulte wrong way to go about things. Sure, the people who can't read between the lines will praise this..but answer me this: Valve chooses to ignore this, Everyone goes to Epic, over the next decade or so, something happens to the Steam store.. What happens to my games bought through Steam? Are they gone forever because Epic are forceful, Valve are too proud and i just sit and watch, not caring as long as i can play the games i like? My solution to all of this, would be a SWBF2 like movement, force Valve to listen. I wouldn't mind paying an extra 5 - 10 per purchase to stop all of this. Maybe even give me an option on a game page to donate directly to the developer. There are so many options out there to combat Valve being greedy, and the worst one has been taken. People who just want to enjoy their games on their platform of choice are being hurt the most by this.

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Chazore KoyomiAraragi (on 25 April 2019)

I cannot believe anyone would give credence to his underhanded tactics. Like anyone giving him the time of day or a bravo, would instantly go against the same tactics, had someone else used them and it shows disgusting hypocrisy when this happens.

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Chazore (on 25 April 2019)

lol Tim, no you wouldn't. You'd be contradicting what you said a month and a half ago, about you guys still going on, for as long as you see fit.

You paint yourself as some nobleman, but you're really just someone who abandoned a group of people, left to rot, and only came back when you felt you wanted to rule them. You overwork your staff, and I cannot believe that the general media refuses to cover this important piece of news, let alone rag against Epic for being so scummy about it, yet they'll buy your PR in spades.

What a world we live in.

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Random_Matt (on 25 April 2019)

At least he has the balls to do something about it.

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Zkuq (on 25 April 2019)

That sounds nice, but I'm not very confident that's true. I seriously doubt Epic is doing their thing to pressure Valve or to provide an alternative. It's to make profit. The only way I could see Epic giving up on exclusives is if it didn't make sense financially, and I don't see it making any less sense financially if Valve commits to a smaller share than it does now. That is, this sounds like a publicity trick.

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psychicscubadiver (on 25 April 2019)

This is why physical will always be superior to digital. Once I own a game it should be mine.

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Chazore psychicscubadiver (on 25 April 2019)

And yet the hardware will not last forever. Physical is not objectively superior to digital, at any time of day.

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kirby007 (on 25 April 2019)

I love how simple he makes it sound

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