The Epic Games Store has been around since 2018, and has continued to grow in what it offers players and developers. Ahead of its launch, however, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney decided to tell Valve executives, including president Gabe Newell, exactly what he thought of them for their high platform fees.
In a December 2018 email, first spotted by GameDiscoverCo as part of the antitrust lawsuit against Valve by Wolfire, between Sweeney and Valve, the Epic Games boss told the Washington-based company that he didn’t like the 30% Valve charged per sale, and that they should be working to make it better for developers and to take down Apple.
“Right now, you assholes are telling the world that the strong and powerful get special terms, while 30% is for the little people,” Sweeney said. “We’re all in for a prolonged battle if Apple tries to keep their monopoly and 30% by cutting backroom deals with big publishers to keep them quiet.
“Why not give ALL developers a better deal? What better way is there to convince Apple quickly that their model is now totally untenable?”
That email, which seemingly wasn’t replied to directly by Valve, did get an internal response from Valve when chief operating officer (COO) Scott Lynch simply said, “You mad bro?” to Newell and business development executive Erik Johnson.
Since the Epic Games Store’s launch in 2018, developers earn 88% of revenue on sales while Epic Games takes just a 12% cut.
What do you think of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney’s opinion of Valve on the platform fees it charges? For more Insider Gaming, check out what Palworld developer Pocketpair said about bringing the game to other platforms.
