Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has announced that the Epic Games Store would stop putting up exclusives if Valve starts giving developers on Steam a bigger revenue split.
The executive made the claims in a series of tweets, seemingly proposing to end this whole "war" between the two platforms.
Epic Games' Dare To Valve
As things stand, Epic Games doles out 88 percent of the revenue to developers, leaving 12 percent for itself. Meanwhile, Steam's revenue policy gives developers 70 percent and keeps 30 percent. In other words, it's no mystery why some jumped on board the Fortnite creator's platform.
Epic Games managed to ink exclusivity deals with developers since it launched the Epic Games Store back in December. As a result, there have been some big-name games that didn't make it to Steam.
Among the gaming crowd, the strategy has been controversial, and many aren't happy with what the company has been doing. However, Sweeney is now holding out an olive branch to Steam.
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. — Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 25, 2019
He also said that in the event Valve agrees to do it, it "would be a glorious moment in the history of PC gaming."
There's good reason to be believe that this isn't a genuine dare. It could possibly be a way to appease gamers riled up by the exclusives, but then again, it could also be real.
Recent Exclusives
As mentioned earlier, a lot of developers have turned to the Epic Games Store instead of Steam. Notable games that landed as exclusives on the platform include the likes of Gearbox Software's Borderlands 3 (as a timed exclusive) and Ubisoft's The Division 2.
Back in January, Deep Silver's Metro Exodus also became an exclusive on the Unreal Engine developer's platform. In response, Valve said it was "unfair."
Another title that shunned Steam is Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds, launching instead on the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store.
