Borderlands 4 is coming to Steam right now. Normally this wouldn’t be big news, but a few years ago Randy Pitchford, the head of Gearbox Software, made some very strong statements about Steam and the Epic Games Store, due to his Epic Games Exclusivity Deal for Borderlands 3. Today, under pressure, he was forced to take a step back. But let’s go in order.
The market has changed
On April 13, 2019, Pitchford wrote on X: “I estimate that Epic’s investment in technology allows it to substantially overtake Valve. When we look at Steam in five or ten years, it will seem like a dying shopwith more competitive ones being the ones to be in.” Pitchford then added that it wasn’t a given that the Epic Games Store would be the most competitive store to emerge, but that Steam was bound to be somewhat outclassed.
His statements were born from purely economic reasons: in addition to a very rich exclusivity contract signed with Epic Games Store (worth more than 100 million dollars), many developers were showing great discontent towards Steam and, above all, towards 30% royalty that Valve takes from every sale.
However, history tells us that PC gamers have not been persuaded to frequent other stores and have remained firmly anchored to Steam, forcing many development studios and publishers to back down from their positions.
Someone then pointed out to Pitchford how his statements at the time contradict the fact that Borderlands 4 will also be released immediately on Steam. The CEO of Gearbox Software then explained his point of view: “Epic has not exploited its advantage. A lot of changes have happened that were difficult to predict. They also got into a huge battle with Apple that distracted them from evolving the store. I am a Steam customer who is really hoping for real competition!”
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