Uh-oh, Tim Sweeney’s been tweeting again, and this time he’s really stirring the pot by declaring Epic would stop signing new exclusives if Steam “committed to a permanent 88 per cent revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached”.
In the (unlikely) event of this actually happening, Sweeney says Epic would even consider putting its own games on the Steam store.
“Such a move would be a glorious moment in the history of PC gaming, and would have a sweeping impact on other platforms for generations to come,” Sweeney enthused.
If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached, Epic would hastily organize a retreat from exclusives (while honoring our partner commitments) and consider putting our own games on Steam.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 25, 2019
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The 88 per cent figure is the current amount the Epic Games Store gives to developers and publishers, with the store itself taking the remaining 12 per cent of the revenue. Steam currently offers developers a tiered revenue split, the lowest being a 70 per cent share for games selling under $10m. Titles that hit the $10m mark get a 75/25 split, while the really big blockbusters that sell over $50m allow developers to keep 80 per cent of the revenue.