Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has responded to social media posts that resurfaced his prediction that Steam would become a “dying store,” while also announcing that Borderlands 4 will drop its Epic Games Store exclusivity and launch simultaneously on Valve’s platform.
Five years ago, Pitchford predicted that Steam in the future “might look like a dying store” and “other competing stores would be the place to be.”
At the time, Fortnite maker Epic was at the height of its attempt to break Steam’s monopoly on the PC gaming market by offering developers a more generous revenue share than Valve. Borderlands 3 was released exclusively on the Epic Games Store for PC, much to the annoyance of some PC gamers. Two years later, documents released as part of Epic’s highly publicized legal battle with Apple revealed that Epic had paid Borderlands 3 publisher 2K $146 million up front to sell the game for PC exclusively through the Epic Games Store. That’s a staggering sum for an exclusivity, but those same documents revealed that Epic recouped its guaranteed minimum revenue of $80 million in the first two weeks.
Although Epic has squandered a ton of money in its battle with Steam for the hearts and minds of PC gamers, Steam remains the biggest player on the platform – by a wide margin. And now, following the reveal of Borderlands 4 during Opening Night Live and the confirmation that the series has dropped its Epic Games Store exclusivity and will launch on Steam and the Epic Games Store on PC at the same time next year, some have pointed out Pitchford’s inaccurate prediction and accused him of returning to Valve’s platform.
Pitchford responded via Twitter that Epic had not exploited its advantage in the PC battle against Valve, which he called a “pity”.
“I am a Steam customer, but I wish they had more and better competition that was more favorable to artists, designers and creatives than the retailer,” he continued. “I will continue to support competitors to Steam and support Steam as well.”
Yes, Steam is the leading store for PC games and Epic is not taking advantage (which is a shame). I am a Steam customer, but I wish they had more and better competition that was more favorable to artists, designers and developers than the retailer. I will continue to…
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) 21 August 2024
Pitchford went on to stress that he is less “against Steam” and more “for competition.” “It’s frustrating how much Steam takes considering what they offer,” he said. “I like to support competitive platforms that are more beneficial to artists, developers and creators than to retailers.”
And in another tweet, Pitchford reiterated his disappointment that Epic failed in the war with Valve.
“Epic was unable to capitalize on its advantage,” he said. “A lot of things changed that were difficult to predict. They also got into a big fight with Apple that prevented them from focusing on building the store. I’m a Steam customer who really hopes for some real competition!”
Valve’s share of revenue from PC game sales has been a hot topic for years, but the company doesn’t seem interested in backing down. And given Steam’s dominance of the PC market, there’s little reason to do so. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to take on video game platform owners, is an obvious, vocal opponent of Steam’s platform fees, which typically hover around 30%. Meanwhile, the Epic Games Store remains unprofitable, by Epic’s own admission.
Borderlands 4 will be released sometime between April and December 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.
Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. You can find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
