Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford replies to those who mocked his old predictions that Steam would be killed off by Epic Store: "Epic isn't pressing their advantage."

This week, the inevitable return of Borderlands 4 on Steam after the third game's Epic Store exclusive was the source of some amusement. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford was snubbed after the announcement of Borderlands 4 on Gamescom for some, um, bold predictions that he made five year ago about how Epic Store would kill Valve's omnipresent service. Pitchford responded to the mockery, which my mum warned me not to do, as it was giving them what they wanted. He lamented the lack of competition and claimed that Epic is not pushing their advantage.

All of this stems from Pitchford's tweets in 2019, when it was announced that Borderlands 3 will be exclusive to Epic. Pitchford wrote: "From the standpoint of track record, I expect Epic's investment in tech to outpace Valve substantially." Steam may be a dying store in five or 10 years. Other, competitive stores will be the place to go. In a separate Tweet, he claimed that "Epic is going to surpass Valve in terms of features and service quality."

Pitchford has been criticized by some players for these claims. It's been five years since Steam first appeared on PC. Kuberr, a Twitter user, replied to a tweet claiming that the Borderlands 4 trailer contained "several secret" and asked "Why do you release the game in a "Dying Store"?" Posting an image of Pitchford’s 2019 prediction.

Pitchford replied to this tweet several hours later by writing. "Yeah Steam is the top PC game store and Epic isn’t pushing their advantage (which I think is a shame)." He added that he was "a Steam customer but I wish they had better competition that would be more favorable to artists designers and creators rather than the retailer."

It's a response that is interesting in two ways. Pitchford's wish for more competition from Valve is understandable. However, no other storefront offers a service as good as Valve does. Pitchford's claim that Epic doesn't use their advantage is less convincing. Epic has never been a PC gaming storefront that is popular. It may have seen huge success with Fortnite but it's always been the underdog. The company hasn't done enough to attract users, focusing more on grabbing exclusives and offering free games than making the Epic Store a service that people want to use. But that's not the same as gaining an advantage.

Pitchford may be referring to how much financial weight each company has. Epic has been valued higher than Valve in several valuations, and recent figures state that the Fortnite creator is worth $22.5 billion. (This, incidentally represents a significant drop from previous estimates.) Valve is valued between $6 and $10 billion. I don't have any idea what Epic's valuation is, but I am not convinced by Valve's. Valve has earned $600 million from Counter-Strike 2 this year. Valve's revenue from Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and the 30% revenue share it takes on every game it releases on Steam is not included.

Pitchford's response concludes that he "will continue to support Steam competitors and also support Steam", aka "put Borderlands on as many platforms as possible and storefronts so it can make as much money as possible." Pitchford is not to blame for wanting to squeeze as much juice from Borderlands, especially when Sony and Microsoft are launching their games on PCs, while PlayStation is getting Microsoft's games.