Borderlands 4 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands boss Randy Pitchford has taken a closer look at his old-fashioned claim that Steam has become like a “dying” store thanks to Epic’s investment in technology. While he admits his long-term hopes for the Epic Game Store were “misplaced or overly optimistic,” Valve’s competitors “continue to shoot themselves in the foot with much more developer-friendly models” – and so the opportunity to shake up PC gaming retail remains.
“If Epic had successfully leveraged its advantage, that might have been the case. But Epic didn’t,” he says. “So Steam famously does very little to earn the massive share they take, maintaining its effective monopoly in the West while potential competitors with much more developer-friendly models continue to shoot themselves in the foot. I am a Steam customer and Steam developer who will continue to advocate for and support competition.”
Pitchford then says that Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands “clearly” show that “customers come for the games, not the store.” But the industry would rather keep Steam’s monopoly intact than risk supporting more “developer and publisher friendly stores,” so that’s just how it is.
“This is all very interesting and there are a lot of opportunities for retail disruption in the PC gaming space, but no one seems to be able to execute on it,” he adds.
While Pitchford’s original claims are old, they’re once again making the rounds on social media as the Borderlands 4 reveal shows the loot-’em-up is coming to Steam at launch. To that, the Gearbox boss says that as a Steam Deck customer, his “penchant for personal interest and convenience battles against my desire for a more developer-friendly alternative” on PC. He also reiterates that Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands initially validated his hopes for Epic’s storefront, but his long-term hopes were “misplaced or overly optimistic.”
“We will continue to support Steam well into the future (as we have with virtually every PC game we’ve launched since Steam launched),” says Pitchford. “In the meantime, I sincerely hope Epic continues the fight and makes progress. Epic needs to prioritize the store and try some new initiatives, while also doubling down on its efforts to get major exclusives if it wants to have a chance.”
Meanwhile, as Fortnite returns to mobileTim Sweeney says Epic Games “probably lost over a billion dollars in revenue” because the battle royale was banned from the iPhone four years ago.
