—𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑼𝑻𝑪𝑨𝑺𝑻

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says Valve "has held gaming back for years." Sweeney was replying to Kiaran Ritchie, a former principal animation programmer at Epic, who criticized Steam's 30% cut and said "You could vibe code a Steam alternative in a week." Sweeney wrote that Valve locks developers' PC games into "Steamworks' social walled garden where players can't talk to other players on iOS, Android, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or even other PC stores." A community note was added saying many games use Steamworks only for authentication to allow crossplay and handle the rest themselves. Sweeney called the note "fake," saying Steam Datagram Relay "isn't related to the things I cited: social, and players talking to each other across platforms." Source: @pcgamer