In a new report as part of the discovery findings of the antitrust lawsuit filed against Valve by developer Wolfire, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney had harsh words for Valve over “special terms” given to bigger developers from Steam.
In a new report found by GameDiscover.Co, old communications have been found between Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and Valve CEO Gabe Newell. Regarding a price-sharing incentive uncorked by Valve in 2018, the platform had adjusted their revenue earning shares from a flat 30% to allow developers that meet certain thresholds to break in how much Valve would take from their bottom line. The incentives were 75%/25% on earnings beyond $10 million and 80%/20% on earnings beyond $50 million, and Epic Games CEO Sweeney did not take kindly to that notion.
Because the 2021 U.S. antitrust lawsuit wasn’t thrown out, the discovery phase (where lawyers locate all relevant details, depose witness testimony, etc) uncovered some old communications between the gaming elites. Correspondence between Newell and Sweeney is alleged to have started with Newell asking Epic Games’ Sweeney “Anything we doing to annoy you?” to which Sweeney responded with uncertainty towards 30% revenue shares, claiming ‘he bets’ “Valve made more profit from most of the next 1000 than the developer themselves made.” Sweeney is an outspoken voice against platform monopolies, as he is constantly seen berating tech giants like Google and Apple on X (formerly Twitter). That can be seen briefly below.
The next communication correspondence shows Epic Games CEO Sweeney alluding to the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit that settled in January 2024. The last correspondence Sweeney made however was possibly the most interesting. Sweeney then writes “Right now, you assholes are telling the world that the strong and powerful get special terms, while 30% is for the little people. 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?” regarding the split shares between Steam and developers.
While the Valve vs. Wolfire lawsuit remains in discovery, more information may be released regarding Epic Games and other communications between gaming bigwigs. In the mean time, fans can read the whole report on GameDiscovery.
