So this is somewhat bizarre story about the Epic games Store exclusive controversy. Epic Games founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, has placed the blame for the fan backlash of Epic Games Store exclusives on Valve for not delivering Steam keys for products not made available on Steam. Weird, right?
PC Gaming Wiki is reporting that Sweeney stated that there’s a Steam policy that prevents Valve from releasing Steam keys for games not currently available on Steam, even if they’re listed on Steam. So a game like Shenmue III might be coming to Steam, but during the duration of its Epic games Store exclusivity, you won’t be able to get a Steam key since the game won’t be available on Steam until six months to a year later.
Sweeney explained this in a tweet response on June 23rd, 2019.
As far as we and our partners can determine, Valve policy prohibits providing Steam keys for games that aren’t going to be available at launch on Steam. This would make it impossible to deliver Steam keys for a game releasing exclusively on Epic at launch.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) June 23, 2019
Some people questioned Sweeney on this practice, though, noting that activating Steam keys on Steam for a game that people DID NOT purchase on Steam would mean that Valve would be losing a sale while allowing the activation of the product on their storefront. So gamers would win, Epic Games would retain their exclusivity, but Valve wouldn’t see any money through the transactions.
According to Sweeney, he places this burden on Valve’s back, noting that this policy is a “trap” for crowdfunded projects and that the exclusivity deals from Epic are not going to be passed over due to Valve’s policy.
Of course Valve has every right to change their policy like this, however Epic’s not going to refuse funding worthy exclusivity partners just because a Steam policy change traps crowdfunded projects into either launching on Steam for 30% or offering backers refunds.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) June 23, 2019
[Update 6/29/2019:] For clarification, Sweeney was asked further about whether or not these policies at Valve actually exist, and he replied noting that while he’s sought clarification from Valve, there is no actual proof that Valve prohibits the release of Steam keys for games not sold on the Steam store.
Epic has sought clarification from Valve. Valve has not responded. Partners have talked to Valve exploring the issue. Nobody has yet received any definitive statement of the policy or whether there’s a path forward. This is what I’ve said all along; see my Tweets & Replies.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) June 30, 2019
Consumer advocate and systems engineer Mortiel pushed back against Sweeney’s claims, asking for a citation on the policy that Valve prohibits the use of key activations from other third-party platforms, or access to crowdfunded projects through other services such as GOG.com or itch.io.
Sweeney ducked the question, focusing mostly on the postulation of Valve’s practices rather than the actuality of consumer access to software that isn’t exclusively tied to Valve’s service.
By “traps”, I just mean: requires that the game be distributed on Steam, ruling out any funding opportunity associated with exclusivity or preferential terms that might “disadvantage Steam customers”, whatever that insanely broad language might be interpreted to mean.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) June 23, 2019
In the end, Sweeney is basically justifying the exclusivity deals that the Epic Games Store have acquired by stating that the disadvantage of not being able to activate Steam keys for games not made available for purchase on Steam is Valve’s fault, and not the fact that the game was made exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year.
(Thanks for the news tip s_fnx)
