Tim Sweeney strikes again, although this time it is not about his fight against Apple. The CEO of Epic Games exchanged insults via email with Gabe Newell due to Steam's 30% tax on developers. Although the head of Valve did not get involved in the fight, his director of operations responded in an epic way.
The feud between Tim Sweeney and Valve dates back to 2017, a year before the launch of the Epic Games Store. Sweeney sent an email to Gabe Newell stating that the 30% tax on Steam was not justifiable. “There were good arguments at first, but the scale is high and operating costs have been reduced,” mentioned the head of Epic.
In a second email, shipped December 2018a Visibly upset Tim Sweeney charges at Valve and calls them idiots. The manager mentions that he will launch the Epic Games Store during the Game Awards and warns that his battle with Apple will escalate. Sweeney believed that those in Cupertino would open their eyes and admit that the 30% fee was unsustainable, but platforms like Steam were pushing the same fee.
“Right now, you morons are telling the world that the strong and powerful get special conditions, while 30% goes to the little people,” the Epic boss said. “We all face a long battle if Apple tries to maintain its monopoly and its 30% by cutting secret deals with big publishers to keep them quiet.”
Given this, Scott Lynch, Valve's COO, responded with a simple “you mad bro?”.
U mad bro? Valve's response to Epic Games
The conversation between Tim Sweeney and Gabe Newell arose during an antitrust trial against Valve in the United States. Wolfire Games, an independent developer, sued Valve in 2021, accusing it of imposing price parity that prevents competition at rival stores. The company led by Gabe Newell tried, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the lawsuit in 2022, so the process continues.
Currently, the lawsuit has moved into the “discovery” process, which is where attorneys use internal conversations and other non-public material to plead your case. This is one of the most striking parts of a trial and where we find out the dirty laundry. For example, Microsoft's leak during the purchase of Activision Blizzard, or the way in which Apple tried to take advantage of Fortnite to promote Apple Music.
Emails sent by Tim Sweeney to Gabe Newell and Scott Lynch were made public as part of this process. Although some parts have been redacted to protect privacy, the conversation demonstrates that Epic was already considering a fight with Apple. The manager insisted that the 30% tax should be abolished and Valve would be key to making those from Cupertino reconsider.
“Why not give ALL developers a better deal? What better way to quickly convince Apple that their model is now totally unsustainable?”
It is difficult to know what happened between August 2017 and December 2018, as no other conversations were made public. We don't know if Newell said anything to infuriate the Epic boss, although if so, Scott Lynch's response will go down in history.