Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has just come out and said something very interesting, that if Steam commits to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached, Epic Games will stop hunting for exclusives. Since Epic is a developer themselves, they took to creating their own store to escape the 30% cut that Steam takes. This is a move that has already been done by EA and Ubisoft, but if course Epic is taking it further by allowing other publishers on their platform.
Here is what Tim said…
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.30% store dominance is the #1 problem for PC developers, publishers, and everyone who relies on those businesses for their livelihood. We’re determined to fix it and this is the one approach that will effect major change.
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.
Then stores could go back to just being nice places to buy stuff, rather than the Game Developer IRS.
The key “no major strings attached” points are: games can use any online systems like friends and accounts they choose, games are free to interoperate across platforms and stores, the store doesn’t tax revenue on other stores or platforms (e.g. if you play Fortnite on iOS+PC)…
More “no major strings attached”: if you play the game on multiple platforms, stuff you’ve bought can be available everywhere; no onerous certification requirements. Essentially, the spirit of an open platform where the store is just a place to find games and pay for stuff.
Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 25, 2019
And here are some follow-up tweets as well…
What do you guys think? Is Steam’s 30% just too much?
