Epic Games boss accused Valve of holding back the gaming industry, but Steam documentation refutes his claims
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
Not everyone shares the Epic Games head's stance.
Recently, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney lashed out at Valve once again. This time, he accused the company of holding back the gaming industry.
It all started with a post by a former engineer who worked at Epic Games. He finds it sad to see the gaming industry “milked with a 30% tax on revenue” (referring to Steam's commission fee). According to the specialist, “you could vibe code an alternative to Steam in a week” and “the industry desperately needs a distribution platform that lets developers keep their earnings.” Standing in the way of such a solution, Kiaran Ritchie explains, is a “fanatical obsession with the idea of 'this game must be in my Steam library.'”
When other developers reminded him that Valve provides game creators with its Steamworks services, Kiaran responded:
If [Steamworks services] are so valuable, why not offer these services a la carte? Then you'd only pay for what you use. They won't do that. Because nobody would voluntarily agree to pay a commission even close to 30% for them.
Later, Tim Sweeney joined the discussion as well. He supported Kiaran's stance and added:
Valve has been slowing down the gaming industry for years by locking developers' PC games into the closed Steamworks social ecosystem, where players cannot communicate with iOS, Android, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and even other PC store users.
However, players who examined the Steamworks documentation quickly refuted the Epic Games boss's accusations. For instance, there is Steam Datagram Relay (SDR), which is allowed to be used outside the Steam service; however, the developer must first release the game on Valve's store:
Steam Datagram Relay is Valve's private virtual gaming network. Using our API, you can carry game traffic onto Valve's gaming network backbones, and get access to our relay network. Relaying traffic protects your servers and players from DoS attacks, because IP addresses are always masked. All incoming traffic is authenticated, encrypted, and rate-limited. In addition, if you encounter an unexpected surge in player numbers, we can find a faster route across our network, which genuinely reduces ping times for players.
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