The debate around the Epic Games Store hit boiling point last week when it was officially confirmed that Borderlands 3 will be a six months exclusive on the storefront. While some are calling for Epic Games to stop securing exclusive deals, others think the backlash will just lead more developers to make their games Epic Games Store exclusives.

On Twitter, a former developer at Valve - the platform holder of Steam - stepped in to defend Epic Games from the backlash. Richard Geldreich, who was a software engineer at Valve for almost five years on games like Portal 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, said that “Steam was killing PC gaming.”

Geldreich called Steam a “virtual printing press” of money for Valve, and that the 30% tax on the industry was “unsustainable.” The former Valve developers said that Epic Games, with the Epic Games Store’s more favorable revenue split, is “fixing this for all gamers.”

The former Valve developer also weighed in on the rumors that the Epic Games Store is Chinese spyware, a rumor that has been refuted by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. Geldreich said that the Epic Games Store isn’t “potential spyware,” and revealed that Valve gathers “huge amounts of data about virtually everything you do with the Steam client.”

Geldreich tackled the issue of platform exclusives, too. The developer criticized the idea that Epic Games is wrong for making exclusivity deals for its storefront, saying that lots of other platforms do the same. Apple Arcade games are exclusive to the subscription service, EA’s Origin has exclusive games, and Valve games like CS:GO and the others that Geldreich have worked on aren’t available on any other storefronts.

Looking at the replies to Geldreich’s tweets, it doesn’t seem as though the conversation about the Epic Games Store and its exclusives are going to go away soon. Epic Games plans to sign more exclusivity deals with developers, and this may cause further tensions to rise among Steam fans who don’t want to install another launcher to play these titles.

There is also a somewhat smaller debate about the Epic Games Store’s lack of features, such as the lack of social and community features and the opt-in review system. Some of these problems can be addressed. However, those angry at the Epic Games Store shouldn’t expect its business model to change soon.

Source: Richard Geldreich - Twitter