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Former Epic Games Dev Criticizes Steam Users for Being 'All in on Steam'
IGN • • technology
Key Points:
- Ex-Epic engineer Kiaran Ritchie criticized Steam for its dominant 30% revenue cut and the PC gaming community's resistance to competing stores, suggesting this dynamic harms the industry by funneling a large portion of revenue to Valve.
- Ritchie argues that even if a superior alternative to Steam existed, most Steam users would reject it to protect their existing investments, showing hostility toward competition.
- Despite Epic Games' efforts to challenge Steam, including developing a faster-launching Epic Games Store client, Ritchie believes these improvements are unlikely to sway Steam's loyal user base.
- Ritchie describes Steam's client as relatively simple technologically but notes its success lies in user loyalty, centralized libraries, and popular features like sales, achievements, and trading cards.
- Epic's broader battle to reduce marketplace fees extends beyond Valve to companies like Apple and Google, but Steam's entrenched position remains a significant obstacle for Epic's ambitions in the PC gaming market.
