Epic Games CEO claims Steam's rules block games from steering players to other payment methods, forcing "everyone to pay 30% to Valve"

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has spoken out about Steam’s business rules at a time when Valve is already under pressure. Valve is currently facing a £656 million class-action lawsuit in the UK over Steam’s pricing and commission. With that case ongoing, Sweeney responded to a discussion about how Steam handles payments and whether developers really have fair options.

The conversation started after Epic Games senior programmer engineer Ryan Fleury shared his thoughts on X regarding Valve's 30% transaction fee. Fleury said Valve holds such a strong position because Steam has spent years offering useful features and services, many of them free. In his view, the higher prices are "worthwhile for the services involved". He added that if someone thinks the fee is too high, they can try to compete by offering a cheaper alternative. According to him, involving governments to punish Valve makes no sense when competition already exists.

Tim Sweeney pushed back on that argument. He said the problem isn’t just the 30% fee, but Steam’s rules around payments. According to Sweeney, Steam does not allow games to point players to other ways to buy content. This forces developers to use Steam’s payment system and pay Valve’s cut every time.

Sweeney compared this to what used to happen on mobile platforms. Apple and Google once required all in-app purchases to go through their systems, taking a percentage each time. Courts later ruled that this was not allowed, and as a result, developers on iOS and Android can now direct users to other payment methods, where Apple and Google take no cut at all.

He argues that Valve is now the only major store on computers still enforcing this kind of rule. While he agrees that stores can charge a fee for selling a game, he believes it’s unfair to demand a percentage of all future in-game spending. He added that it’s like buying a car and then being forced to give the dealership 30% of every gas purchase afterward.