One could argue that Steam and the Epic Games Store have had a contentious relationship for a while now, with Epic steadily building an impressive library of exclusives for its platform. But it appears that it doesn't need to be this way, at least according to Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, who says that Epic Games would stop buying exclusives if Steam would change its revenue split.

For those unfamiliar, Valve takes 30% of all revenue from game sales on Steam, a number that Epic and many developers feel is unfair. Epic, on the other hand, only takes 12%, which is a significantly smaller piece of the pie and a much sweeter deal for publishers and developers. This, coupled with lucrative exclusivity contracts, has drawn many major games to the Epic Game Store as timed exclusives. As it so happens, one of the most recent of these is Borderlands 3, which will be an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch.

It's doubtful that Steam will ever drop its revenue split to 88/12, but it's possible the platform could consider some sort of smaller cut. After all, Steam is a more fully-featured platform, so it is arguable that they might deserve a greater cut.

For those unaware, Tim Sweeney recently explained why Epic only takes 12%, asserting that 30% is a massive markup. This is stance he has held since the announcement of Epic's digital storefront. Of course, Steam isn't alone in taking large cuts of game revenue. For instance, Sony and Microsoft take similar cuts on its respective platforms.

Games are incredibly difficult to make, with grueling crunch time being found at nearly every developer - including Epic - as Fortnite developers suffered weeks of crunch according to a recent report. With that in mind, it's hard to argue in favor of Steam's massive cut, and it's even harder to imagine a future where these PC exclusives end any time soon. Gamers may have to deal with using launchers for Steam and the Epic Games Store if they want to play new games as soon as they release, but eventually, one side could fold.

Source: Tim Sweeney - Twitter