Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director pushes back on Epic Games CEO's "better deals" claim, saying Alan Wake 2 suffered by skipping Steam

Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, recently suggested that competition between Steam and the Epic Games Store benefits both players and developers. “On some transactions, Epic wins. On more, Steam wins.” He further added, “But one thing is constant on every transaction: gamers and developers win by having more options and better deals.” 

That message did not sit well with Larian’s publishing director, Michael Douse, who pushed back publicly. While acknowledging that Epic Games fully funded Alan Wake 2, he argued that the “pro-developer” framing feels disconnected from reality when looking at how things played out for Remedy Entertainment. In his view, Remedy’s financial strain following the launch shows the downside of being locked out of Steam, where the game could have reached a much larger audience.

He went on to explain that even if Epic had taken a revenue cut on Steam sales, Remedy could likely have recovered development costs faster and generated additional profit. While he agrees that competition between storefronts is healthy, he believes it becomes hard to defend exclusivity deals when there are clear examples of games underperforming because of them.

Douse also questioned the long-term plan behind Epic’s store strategy, suggesting that its success depends on converting Fortnite’s massive player base into buyers of premium, single-player games. So far, he doesn’t see strong signs that the Fortnite audience is being guided in that direction. He compared this situation to mobile app stores, where years of free-to-play dominance have made it extremely difficult to sell premium games without hurting their value elsewhere.

In the specific case of Alan Wake 2, Epic’s publishing deal did help get the game made, but it reportedly took close to two years for Remedy to reach profitability. The game skipped both Steam and the Nintendo Switch, and many believe that a Steam release alone could have significantly boosted sales and reduced the financial pressure on the studio.