There has been a lot of contention about how digital retailers have been proceeding lately. Some people are mad at Valve and Steam about how it treats customers, developers, and publishers, while others are mad at Epic for the Epic Games Store for hoarding exclusive deals and keeping them from appearing everywhere. Well, the Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, has revealed what would make Epic stop going after exclusives fast and put the ball in Valve’s court. It comes down to revenue sharing.
On Twitter , Sweeney said, “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.” Currently, Epic Games offers an 88/12 split, which gives the creators of the game 88% of the profits, while Epic only gets a 12% cut from sales. Back in December 2018, Valve revealed it has a 70/30 split initially, with it getting 30% off a Steam sale. If a game makes over $10 million, that goes to a 75/25 split. Once a title makes $50 million, the revenue share becomes 80/20.
In Sweeney’s commentary stream, he also touched on other elements he thinks should happen with PC games. Some of the key points included his beliefs that, “games can use any online systems like friends and accounts they choose, games are free to interoperate across platforms and stores, [and] the store doesn’t tax revenue on other stores or platforms.” Sweeney also said he thinks that “if you play the game on multiple platforms, stuff you’ve bought can be available everywhere.”
Valve has yet to respond to Sweeney’s remarks.
Source: Twitter