Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says he's open to Fortnite on Steam or 'any serious store', but that 'the end of these ridiculous 30% fees' is a requirement

Peely from Fortnite with banana-fied Wolverine claws.
(Image credit: Epic Games)

Fortnite (a game which by all accounts probably doesn't need the help) could come to Steam, but on one condition: the platform does away with its 30% cut.

As spotted by Gamesradar, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney laid out the conditions for bringing Fortnite to the platform in a response to a Tweet, writing: "We’ll compete, and we’ll also put Fortnite on any serious store that gives all developers an awesome deal … the end of these ridiculous 30% fees is near." Steam takes a 30% cut, so it's a pretty obvious shot across the aisle.

A post that reads: "We’ll compete, and we’ll also put Fortnite on any serious store that gives all developers an awesome deal. Steam, Microsoft, OneStore, anyone: give all developers an awesome deal and we’ll support you. The end of these ridiculous 30% fees is near."

(Image credit: @TimSweeneyEpic on Twitter/X.)

While it's a little funny that Sweeney is implying Steam isn't a "serious store" here, it should be noted that he isn't technically wrong. 30% is a high price for the privilege. Back in 2021, a state of the industry survey at GDC found that only 7% of respondents thought a 30% cut was justified. 

However if Fortnite came to Steam, it likely wouldn't be shelling out 30% of its profits for the privilege. If you're a big earner, Valve will only take 25% (past the $10 million mark) or 20% (past the $50 million mark). That's something Valve's been criticised for in the past—but given its current hold on the market, the resentment hasn't really done much.

Epic Games has plenty of problems that keep it from achieving Steam's massive popularity, but it does have the high ground in this particular debate. Epic's baseline cut is 12%, and there are programs in place that allow devs six months of 100% profit as long as they commit to Epic Games Store exclusivity. Cynically, this may be more down to the fact that Epic Games is less popular (and needs to convince devs to use it). However, from a sheer numbers perspective it's generous by comparison.

This also isn't the first time Sweeney's come down on Valve. Back in March, he said Steam had caused a "real problem for the industry" in how it set up its multiplayer games. "They have a classic lock-in strategy where they build these services that only work with their store, and they use the fact that they have the majority market share in order to encourage everybody to ship games that have a broken experience in other stores."

On the other hand, Valve promotes games in ways that are (typically) handy for the consumer. In October, it was revealed that the store doesn't sell ad space at all—instead, the storefront uses either algorithmic methods or hand-curated full page takeovers and spotlights, which are selected based on how well the game's doing.

This can even be good for devs sometimes, skimming-off-the-top aside. Dave the Diver had a meteoric rise to popularity despite having a humble team, hitting the storefront like a torpedo. Other times, Steam's methods force even veteran studios to try and flip negative Steam reviews with embarrassing copy-and-paste comments, something that's become an industry standard for smaller studios too, as Steam grows ever more dominant.

TOPICS
PRODUCTS
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, looks at the camera.
Tim Sweeney says Epic is losing billions fighting Apple and Google because it can afford to, jokes that 'we might run into serious financial problems after a couple more decades'
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
We learned just how small Valve really is this year, but also how good it is at raking in the cash: It's making more money per employee than Apple
v-bucks
Fortnite has 58 creators that got paid over $1 million in 2024, and 7 of those made over $10 million
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Amazon thought it could compete with Steam because it was so much larger than Valve, but Prime Gaming's former VP admits that 'gamers already had the solution to their problems'
Epic Games logo behind the Epic Games Store
Epic gave away nearly 600 million games in 2024, and it's 'not slowing down' for 2025
Fortnite jacked Peter Griffin
Parents are suing Epic over Fortnite item shop 'FOMO' timers they say are inaccurate and manipulative
Latest in Gaming Industry
Yoda Luke and R2 in Lego form.
Lego is going to make its videogames in-house from now on, says it would 'almost rather overinvest'
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A computer screen with program code warning of a detected malware script program. 3d illustration
Coder faces 10 years' jailtime for creating a 'kill switch' that screwed-up his employers' systems when he was laid off
Atomfall screenshot
Rebellion CEO puts the studio's recent avoidance of layoffs down to control of scope and cost: 'Sometimes we say, guys, this game's too big'
Judge Dredd promotional image in Warzone
Half-a-dozen 2000AD games were in the works before fizzling out: 'The games you get to see are a tiny representative of the number that get started—sadly'
sniper elite 5 cover
Sniper Elite CEO reckons Swen Vincke is right to snarl at short-sighted publishers: 'You could argue that their business at senior level isn't making games… their business is managing their shareholders' perceptions'
Latest in News
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Recently appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Here comes Intel's new CEO: a semiconductor veteran that won the same prestigious award as Jensen Huang and Lisa Su
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Protestors attend the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Picket on August 15, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Lila Seeley/Getty Images)
8 months into their strike, videogame voice actors say the industry's latest proposal is 'filled with alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse'
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters
live action Jimbo the Jester from Balatro holding a playing card and addressing the camera
LocalThunk forbids AI-generated art on the Balatro subreddit: 'I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds'