from Hacker News

Court docs reveal Epic CEO's anger at Steam's 30% fees

by Kluggy on 3/14/24, 5:53 PM with 58 comments

  • by faeriechangling on 3/14/24, 8:15 PM

    I have confidence a game published on steam will be there 20 years from now. I have much less confidence games on epic games store will be there 20 years from now. That's a huge value-add.

  • by superbman on 3/14/24, 8:29 PM

    30% sounds high. Are there anticompetitive effects at play?

    I play so few games that I'm happy to buy mostly from the much smaller gog.com. I'm not sure if their fees are less, but it at least raises competition.

    I generally don't trust DRM platforms like Steam or Epic, but bravo to Tim Sweeney for championing smaller publishers unable to negotiate down from Steam's 30% fees.

  • by ganoushoreilly on 3/14/24, 6:52 PM

    This whole notion of epic being the little guy is just dumb. These platforms were built and supply a value. Epic tried and they give away games no stop to entice users to use the platform. It’s not great, steam is better. Instead focus on making better games and content that push me to buy.

    It just comes off as greedy and whiney.

  • by blibble on 3/14/24, 8:39 PM

    steam is one of the very few products I use that doesn't feel like the company running is enshittifying it to make a quick buck

    it's a direct result of its private ownership, there is no need to constantly squeeze customers/suppliers for more every quarter

    if it was owned by a VC/PE fund, or a public company then it would be very different experience indeed

  • by MR4D on 3/14/24, 8:57 PM

    I am so tired of this guy. He's a Class-A a*hole.

    He is fighting everyone's 30% fees.

    Perhaps, just perhaps, they are worth it because if they weren't the it would be easy to create a platform.

    Proof of his absolute stupidity is here [0], where he says (referring to MS, Nintendo, and Sony), "* Well, they subsidize hardware, so they sell their hardware, as far as I can tell from widely published reports, at a loss, and so the fee needs to cover that*".

    WTF???? So if you lose money, the he isn't going to sue you, but if you make money, then he will sue you. At this point, I hope someone destroys his damn company due to a slip & fall lawsuit. God, I can't take his shit anymore!!!

    [0] - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/epic-explains-why-it-hasnt-sue...

    /rant