The inevitable return of Borderlands 4 to Steam, following the third game's Epic Store exclusivity, was the cause of some amusement this week. After the announcement of Borderlands 4 at Gamescom, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford received a light ribbing over some, uh, bold predictions he made five years ago about how the Epic Store would kill off Valve's omnipresent distribution service. Now, Pitchford has responded to the mockery (which my mum said you should never do as it's just giving them what they want), lamenting the lack of competition for Steam, and claiming that 'Epic is not pressing their advantage.'
It all stems from a series of tweets Pitchford made in 2019, after it was revealed that Borderlands 3 would be exclusive to Epic. "From a track record point of view, my expectation is that Epic’s investment in technology will outpace Valve’s substantially," Pitchford wrote. "When we look back at Steam in five or ten years, it may look like a dying store and other, competitive stores, will be the place to be." In a separate tweet, he also claimed that "Epic will inevitably surpass Valve on features and quality of service."
Five years on, and with Steam having barely noticed the appearance of Epic on PC, some players have taken Pitchford to task over these claims. In a reply to a tweet about the Borderlands 4 trailer containing "several secrets" Twitter user Kuberr asked "Why are you releasing the game on a "Dying" store though?" posting an image of Pitchford's 2019 prediction.
It was this tweet that Pitchford responded to several hours later, writing. "Yeah, Steam is the leading store for PC games and Epic isn't pressing their advantage (which is a shame). He then added that he's "A Steam customer, but sure wish they had more and better competition that was more favorable to artists, designers, and creators than to the retailer."
Yeah, Steam is the leading store for PC games and Epic is not pressing their advantage (which is a shame). I’m a Steam customer, but sure wish they had more and better competition that was more favorable to artists, designers, and creators than to the retailer. I will continue to…August 21, 2024
It's an interesting response in a couple of ways. Pitchford's wish that Valve had better competition is understandable, although currently no other storefront comes close to offering a service like Valve's from a consumer perspective. I'm less convinced about Pitchford's claims that Epic isn't pressing their advantage. While it may have witnessed huge success with Fortnite, Epic has always been the underdog when it comes to being a PC gaming storefront. Certainly the company hasn't done as much as it potentially could have to win users over, focusing on nabbing exclusives and providing free games rather than making the Epic Store itself into a service people want to use. But that isn't the same thing as pressing an advantage.
Perhaps Pitchford is referring to the financial weight each company can throw around. Several valuations have put Epic at a higher value than Valve, with recent figures stating the Fortnite creator to be worth $22.5 billion (which, incidentally, represents a sharp drop on previous estimations). Valve, meanwhile, is generally valued at between $6 and $10 billion. I don't know about the Epic figure, but I'm not at all convinced by the Valve valuation. Counter-Strike 2 alone has made $600 million for Valve this year so far. Let alone the money it makes from Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, or the 30% revenue cut it takes from every single game released on Steam.
Pitchford concludes in his response that he will "continue to support competitors to Steam and also support Steam" aka, "put Borderlands 4 on as many platforms and storefronts as possible so it can make the most money." Then again, when Sony is launching its games on PC, and Microsoft is putting its games out on PlayStation, Pitchford can hardly be blamed for wanting to squeeze the most juice out of Borderlands.
