# “Valve has held gaming back for years,” Epic Games CEO proclaims in his latest jab against Steam

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/valve-has-held-gaming-back-for-years-epic-games-ceo-proclaims-in-his-latest-jab-against-steam/
- Published: 2026-10-27T13:08:13+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-07T06:25:56+00:00
- Original publisher: GamesRadar+
- Original article: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/valve-has-held-gaming-back-for-years-epic-games-ceo-tim-sweeney-proclaims-in-his-latest-jab-against-steam/
- Topics: Business, Companies, Entertainment, Gaming

## Key points

- Tim Sweeney criticised Valve’s Steamworks ecosystem.
- The debate was sparked by complaints about Steam’s 30 per cent cut.
- Steam Datagram Relay can be used across platforms.

## Summary

Epic Games chief Tim Sweeney accused Valve of holding gaming back by tying developers’ PC games to Steamworks, which he described as a social “walled garden”. The remarks renew his criticism of Steam and focus attention on the reach of Valve’s services and the platform’s 30 per cent revenue cut.

The dispute followed former Epic animation programmer Kiaran Ritchie’s complaint about the cut and claim that Steam’s main remaining value is its network. A community note pointed out that Valve’s Steam Datagram Relay can also be used on other platforms by games released on Steam. The article also notes Steam’s role in popularising digital games and supporting Linux gaming through Proton.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.