Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney spoke out against Valve’s founder Gabe Newell, calling him out for his expensive yacht hobby and ‘diamond teeth’. He went on to reiterate how EGS invests back into developers while Steam does not.
This is all while maintaining that Steam has enjoyed a massive lead over EGS in the PC gaming space, after a recent post from a dev went viral.
Epic Games CEO Calls Out Valve for Lack of Free Games
The PC gaming space can be basically categorized into 3 segments. This also includes the smaller scale launchers such as Battle.net and GoG, followed by the two biggest players on PC; Steam and Epic Games.
It’s no secret that the Epic Games Store has been trailing far behind Steam in terms of both overall player count and revenue gain. This is, despite EGS offering a ton of free games over the years, many of which have been AAA releases such as GTA 5.
Steam has however had a consistently sizable lead, and this has translated to developer sales revenue as well. The whole controversy started once the CEO of New Blood Interactive, David Oshry shared a rather interesting tidbit.
He mentioned how their game, Blood West managed to gain a 200% jump in sales on Steam; despite having being offered for free on EGS during the holiday season. It’s clear that Epic’s move ended up as being free advertising for Valve’s storefront.
Sweeney didn’t exactly deny these claims either, mentioning how having a game free on EGS ‘raises awareness’. He did mention that Steam would win in certain transactions, while Epic wins in others, doubling down on the fact that more choice is a good thing for gamers.
Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney seemed a bit peeved at the whole matter. In a follow up post, the CEO blasted back at Steam, mentioning how they reinvest back into users with a rewards program, and how games on EGS can technically keep a full share of the profit.
He also took a jab at Gabe Newell, calling him out for his obsession with yachts and ‘diamond teeth’, which serve no way of bringing more to the developers.
Gabe Newell’s obsession with yachts is pretty well known at this point, and the founder of Valve recently purchased a $500 million boat that comes equipped with 15 gaming stations. The diamond teeth bit seems to be a bit misunderstood though, since the original source can be chalked up to a meme.
Steam isn’t without its fair share of issues, but its clear here that it’s the best solution for PC gamers at this point. It’s convenient, full of features and most importantly has the largest selection of games.
The EGS store feels a lot barebones in comparison, and even lacks basic features. Steam also has the advantage of being more well established, and Epic is struggling to break into that share.
However, Tim Sweeney’s outburst comes off as rather hypocritical, given how EGS basically thrives off Fortnite revenue, and would largely be irrelevant without its free games program.
