Epic CEO Tim Sweeney backs $900M UK lawsuit against Valve over 30% fee

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney voiced support for a $900 million lawsuit against Valve in the UK after a competition tribunal this week ruled the case can proceed. Filed in 2024, the claim broadly alleges Valve unfairly prevents game makers from offering lower prices on other platforms, requires that add-on content for games bought on Steam also be purchased through Steam, and that Valves "excessive commission" has inflated prices for UK consumers.

Valve had argued the suit should not be allowed to proceed as a collective action—functionally similar to a class action—but the Competition Appeal Tribunal disagreed and said the case can move forward. Epic is not a party to the case, but combating Steams 30% fee and its prohibition on steering users to off-platform purchase methods for add-ons was one of the founding goals of the Epic Games Store.

In 2019 Sweeney said that if Steam dropped its fee to 12% he would stop pursuing exclusives and consider putting Fortnite on the platform. Epic has also shown a willingness to spend large sums pursuing similar principles in legal fights with Apple and Google. Sweeney has called Steams 30% cut a "junk fee"—a description PC Gamer suggests may be a little much—but the outlet noted the industry appears to be slowly trending away from the fee, in part due to Epics efforts.

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