Seems like buying games to remove them from your competitor is a scummier thing to do.
Who sued who in the what now?
Why is Valve being sued for almost $900 million, but Epic Games wasn't sued when they bought Rocket League and Fall Guys to remove them from steam?
Submitted 15 hours ago by FirmDistribution@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
InFerNo@lemmy.ml 7 hours ago
Rocket League had a native Linux version, but they also pulled that.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
And a Mac client.
gustofwind@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Epic is trash, simple as
popcar2@piefed.ca 14 hours ago
Because Steam is the world’s biggest games store on PC while Epic is statistically insignificant. What’s the question?
unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 13 hours ago
epic is irrelevant because nobody wants it, not because steam is trying to crush competition.
yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
You prefer Walmart instead of Walmart?
fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org 11 hours ago
Epic is irrelevant because Epic has not given anyone a single solitary reason to use their launcher and platform. Tim Sweeny loves the smell of his own shit in the morning after he takes a big wet dump in the toilet.
That launcher of theirs has a knack of sucking out all of your system resources, namely bandwidth and CPU, just to download games. Meanwhile, Valve gives you so many options to work around that.
atrielienz@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Why is Epic insignificant?
They launched with a 12% service fee, dropped that service fee to 10%, and then dropped the service fee entirely for the first $1Mn in sales per year.
In June 2025, they released a new feature enabling developers to launch their own webshops hosted by the Epic Games Store. These webshops could offer players out-of-app purchases, as a more “cost-effective” alternative to in-app purchases.
They provide developers with free to generate license keys, and keyless integration with other e-shop stores including GOG, Humble Bundle, and Prime gaming.
They offer a user review system.
They also added cloud saves in July of 2025.
The thing is, they offer none of the other features Steam offers:
- In-Home Streaming
- Remote Play with Friends
- Family Accounts
- Achievements
- Price Adjusted Bundles
- Gifting Games
- Shopping Cart
- TV/Big Screen Mode
Epic launched their service in 2018. It’s been 7 years. The only reason not to offer feature parity (for a company that makes $4.6Bn - 5.7Bn in revenue, and a shop that makes $1.09Bn, you’d think they would be enticing users with the services they want.
What they have done instead is exclusivity deals that plenty of consumers complain about but devs don’t seem to care about so long as they’re getting paid.
So, the excuse that Steam got there first (as if it’s just about that and the reason their market share is what it is is because they have refined, adapted, and improved their service offering over time doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when steam has a significant percent of the market share (79.5% to epic’s 42.3%) but is only making twice the revenue of their rival store.
It makes sense for GOG or Itch.io who’s market cap is smaller by quite a lot to not offer the same feature parity. Each of those platforms has figured out they can offer other things to devs and consumers to make themselves competitive over time.
Sweeny’s attack is basically just a pitry party he’s throwing for himself because he doesn’t want to compete.
Grimy@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Steam isn’t being sued by Sweeny, they are being sued on behalf of 14 million UK gamers.
Also, epic has an estimated 3% to 7% of the market share, yet they should be regulated as well. If you stopped bootlicking for half a second, you would realise that this isn’t about who’s the worst but the fact that they are all bad (except itch, bless them).
Your enjoyment of their product doesn’t mean it isn’t having a serious and negative impact on the industry. Amazon is really convenient too, can you defend them next please?
kinsnik@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
I am definitely not on epic side here, but the reason they had to pay for exclusivity for games is because valve doesn’t allow any games on steam to be sold cheaper elsewhere. Which developers follow because steam brings in a lot of revenue.
Without that, epic could try to compete with steam (and its extra features) by offering lower prices, and letting the consumer make the choice of features vs price.
But valve policies effectively make it impossible for any new marketplace to compete.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 hours ago
I dunno, killing the idea of ownership of games was pretty bad.
I don’t think any amount of Proton patches submitted is going to bring that back.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 hours ago
Steam didn’t do that. Even when you bought a physical disk you didn’t own the game.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Steam didn’t do that. Even Super Nintendo cartridges tried to claim in the Terms and Conditions that you legally didn’t own the copy you paid for. It was never contested, and thus we have the current software ownership debacle.
doublah@sopuli.xyz 7 hours ago
But Steam didn’t kill the idea of ownership of games? It never existed for digital distribution (or even physical with DRM), which existed before Steam.
Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
Apparently a lot of games don’t have DRMs on Steam. The only thing missing is a badge indicating this.
merdaverse@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
Yes, some of them can be launched directly from the exe without the steam client, or with some modifications to the game files.
Here’s a list of DRM free games: pcgamingwiki.com/…/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Stea…
Also it’s kind of silly how people automatically blame Steam for this, even though Valve does not force you to use DRM to publish to Steam. It is the developers themselves that chose to add DRM or tie themselves to the Steam API so that the game can’t run without it.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Because Valve has more money that someone winning a lawsuit can take from.
TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 14 hours ago
No one gives a flat fuck about epics launcher.
lofuw@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Stupid people do.
Grimy@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Everyone does the moment steam gets sued by consumers. It’s like the bar is set by epic or something and we can’t expect better things from any of them because of it.
Matt@lemdro.id 14 hours ago
Valve is being sued because they are forcing others to follow policies that further entrenches Steam as the largest store.
Since Epic bought the game developer, it only applies to themselves. It is much harder to sue someone over a decision that only applies to something they own. How can a company be sued for not selling their product at a store? Should Valve be sued for not selling their own games on Epic or GOG?
Is Epic’s decision to only sell their games on their store annoying for users? Yes. But unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about. There would be a better chance of a lawsuit of Epic paying other game developers for exclusivity, but that would still not be easy as game exclusivity is still a significant factor on game consoles as well. Albeit much less than in the past.
mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 hours ago
Isn’t valve being sued for
-
Not allowing devs to sell steam download codes on other stores, But the ban only applies if they are selling the download code for cheaper than Steam
-
Not allowing devs to sell steam DLC download codes on other stores
I don’t think 1 or 2 puts other stores at any disadvantage. If a store wants to sell steam download codes then Valve has to get their normal cut. If they don’t want to pay the valve tax, then they don’t need to offer a Steam download code.
markz@suppo.fi 13 hours ago
So the entire problem is about restrictions on steam codes?
-
lofuw@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Valve isn’t forcing anyone to use their platform.
If Steam’s terms aren’t satisfactory for developers, then they don’t have to use Steam.
kinsnik@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
There are laws that say that abusing a monopoly is illegal. Steam is objectively a monopoly in pc games. Sure, you don’t have to use it, but it is basically impossible for indie developers to make a living without it.
Now, the question is if valve’s actions are actually abusing the monopoly, or normal business practices.
False@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
They essentially removed games that I owned and made it so I could no longer play them by drippy Linux support.
yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
The only answer with an actual articulate explanation has 30% downvotes because the average gamer IQ is double digits.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
Marketshare.
themusicman@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
It does remove easy Linux compatibility. Also you can run any storefront on steam deck, so not sure what your point is about hardware
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
A hypothetical Epic console.
SirW00talot@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Because it’s a patent troll who has attempted this a few times before.
fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org 11 hours ago
Exactly.
And she's one of those who is doing it "for the children". So, one of those disgusting beings who hides behind children to get anything she wants done.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 14 hours ago
TIL it was removed from steam. I play it on my deck all the time
NannerBanner@literature.cafe 13 hours ago
Yeah, it’s no longer for sale. If you bought it before it was delisted, you can still download/play it through steam. What is fucking atrocious is that I had to go and make an account with epic to play. Well, they can spam and sell my ‘nannerbanner’sfakeemailforepiccunts@proton.me’ all they want. Fucking cunts. .
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 hours ago
Yeah, I bought my own domain specifically so I could set up a catch-all email service. Everything sent to my domain hits the same inbox, but I can easily see who has sold my info. If I start getting spam addressed to “walmart@example.com” then I know Walmart sold my info. And I can easily set a rule to automatically mark anything addressed to that burned account as spam.
Lots of websites quickly caught onto the “just add a + after your regular email” trick, and set up an internal rule to remove any of the + tags. So that old trick is largely useless.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 hours ago
What are they being sued for? I guess I missed this?
eli@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
They are being accused of price fixing with the whole “can’t sell games for cheaper on other store fronts compared to the steam listing” thing
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 hours ago
Oh well that’s totally fair, honestly.
GuerillaGorillas@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
nogooduser@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I’m pretty sure that Amazon also says that you can’t sell things on Amazon for more than you sell the same item elsewhere.
I’ve certainly seen a video claiming that.
unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 13 hours ago
ah yes, they are price fixing by saying devs can't set the price on steam (which the devs control) higher than the price on other platforms (which the devs also control)
lath@piefed.social 14 hours ago
As per my understanding (which isn’t saying much), Steam takes a 30% cut of each sale. In UK, someone with a specific agenda claimed to represent gamers as a class and sued reasoning that the 30% cut inflates the price of games globally even beyond Steam’s store, harming everyone.
Did i understand it right? No idea. What’s the actual goal here? Also no idea. Is Steam the “good guy” in all this? Of course not.
lofuw@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Well that’s stupid. If Steam charged less, the price of games wouldn’t change.
Developers and publishers would just pocket the difference.
Adeptus_Obsoletus@piefed.social 14 hours ago
Is Steam the “good guy” in all this? Of course not.
Too bad a lot of people, even here or in other threads, don’t get it, so they willingly cheer for Valve simply because Tim Sweeney sucks.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
This would be like if someone sued Walmart for letting their local store go out of business.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
Walmart didn’t let local stores go out of business, it deliberately undercut local stores in order to drive them out if business.
Zahille7@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
It’s not a perfect analogy, but you get my point.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 12 hours ago
More like the local store suing Walmart for putting them out of business, but only after they pushed away all of their customers with bad ideas and flashy gimmicks
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Kick them to the curb valve at least until the lawsuit is resolved.
fartsparkles@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
If Epic spent half as much money as they are suing organisations and instead funded developing their shop into a gaming community platform like Steam, they’d probably have caught up by now.
warm@kbin.earth 14 hours ago
Epic Games Launcher would always end up a pile of shit anyway. Tim Sweeney is a fuckhead and he has lots of investors to please.
fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org 11 hours ago
He's also Tencent's bitch too.
reksas@sopuli.xyz 11 hours ago
its not about making better product for epic. its about removing competition so they dont have to.
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 52 minutes ago
Epic approach is the typical venture capitalist run company approach of running at loss then once they get market share start jacking up the prices.
Can’t really trust a company until they are actually profitable with a functioning sustainable business model. We’ve seen it time and time again where even Facebook launched without ads and look at it now.
M137@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
They could remove that competition by making a better product, but that is somehow always the last thing they’d ever think about. It never stops being so fucking weird with all these business people who go to great lengths to do shitty stuff and always end up making it worse for everyone except a quick buck for themselves, even though they could easily make a lot more for a longer time by simply doing a good job. But no, that would require anything other than immediate greed. Absolutely vile people.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 8 hours ago
Sweeney is legit delulu tbh.
He literally said Epic’s launcher/store is ready as is, doesn’t need more development. It also runs in Unreal Engine, so you get Chromium (CEF) + Unreal Engine running just for one launcher/store.
At least on Linux you can run Unreal Editor without EGS (because it doesn’t exist on Linux) and if you’ve claimed any free games on Epic, you can use Heroic launcher to manage them easily.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Oooh. This is interesting. I wonder how much of the epic library is Linux compatible.
Korkki@lemmy.ml 14 hours ago
it’s often more risky and expensive to hire, train and develop systems and communities like that, especially when doing it against the tide, than to just try to trip up the competition. It’s not just that it’s dificult and it costs money, but it’s not preferred because investors abhor risks.
Isn’t this seen in global politics all the time. When US says China is too dominant in X and we need to fight it. They are not saying that US will invest in shit that will help them compete. All or 90% of the actions is to try to trip up, sabotage and sanction the competition.
Typhoon@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
Just a bunch of crabs in a bucket.
LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I wish they’d just focus on fixing Unreal. It’s a shit show.
Baggie@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
Every time someone uses lumen the frame rate drops by roughly 2/3rds, it’s nuts.
warm@kbin.earth 10 hours ago
You dont like games that look like you have grease smeared over your monitor?
yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
“Gaming community.”
Steam and Epic are both malware.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
To be honest, Epic is doing a good job of tearing down walled gardens in places like mobile, and we’ll probably be better off for it. But yeah, they’ve done a terrible job of competing with Steam.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 12 hours ago
They only did that because they wanted their walled garden to be there too. Tim Sweeney is just butthurt his walled garden isn’t the biggest
doublah@sopuli.xyz 6 hours ago
The problem there comes from Epic taking secret deals to settle those cases instead of let any precedent be set that would actually benefit customers.
evol@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
I don’t understand this I use it for rocket league occasionally and it all just works ™ ? I prefer Valve 100% to slopnite developers but the launcher seems fine to me. (On Linux Heroic is unlikely better than steam which has a bunch of random bugs every few weeks)