Epic Games Founder Challenges Steam, Says They’ll Stop Going For Exclusives If Valve Agrees to Pay Devs More
The health of the video game industry becomes more and more transparent by the day. From the demanding workload asked of by triple-A developers around the industry to the complete annihilation of game studios like Telltale, it is a competitive and ambitious market. This is especially true in terms of online retailers. In recent months, Fortnite creator Epic Games opened up their titular online storefront, hosting a variety of exclusives such as Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, and many others. In response to their methods, Epic Games received an awful level of backlash from the gaming community, but the company is willing to ease up.
According to Epic Games founder, Tim Sweeney, the company is willing to lay off on all the exclusives so long as Valve pledges to pay developers more money for their hard work. In a series of tweets, Sweeney opens up thoughtful dialogue on their exclusives and exactly its purpose.
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.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 25, 2019
Since its inception, the Epic Games Store faced hurdle after hurdle of adverse reactions from the community, and the developers of aforementioned exclusives faced repercussions as well. Highly-anticipated sequel Borderlands 3 faced major backlash after they announced their exclusivity to the Epic Games Store and in acts of protest, gamers bombarded previous games such as Borderlands 2 with bad reviews.
With that said, Sweeney and company aims to develop a symbiotic relationship between retailers and studios. Rather than taking all the profits, Sweeney wants to create a sustainable industry. What do you think about Epic Games’ founder’s ultimatum to Valve? Do you think the company will follow through? Given all the money they’re losing out to current Epic Games Store exclusives, it’s certainly sounds tempting! Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on Don’t Feed the Gamers Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming and entertainment news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here are some of our latest:
Hoi Duong2131 Posts
Hoi is an elusive figure at DFTG, whose favorite past-times include chillin' in the Fade, reading manga, watching anime, collecting novelty items, and gaming.
