The much-anticipated Borderlands 4 is expected to hit the market in 2025. While fans are excited about the game, the past comments of Gearbox’s co-founder have resurfaced, sparking renewed discussion about the ongoing rivalry between Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Borderlands 4 has been confirmed to launch on Steam, a move that contradicted Randy Pitchford’s earlier predictions about the Epic Games Store overtaking Valve’s platform. That said, the co-founder has come forward again to address his past comments, but this time from a different perspective.
Borderlands 4 Future Release of Steam Fails Randy Pitchford’s Past Prediction
Back in December of 2018, Epic Games came out with its own store where players could buy games, similar to what Valve’s Steam. When Borderlands 3 was released in 2019, it was an Epic Games store exclusive, which was a big deal since Steam has been a go-to place for many to buy games.
What’s even more interesting is that Randy Pitchford doubled down on his decision to release the game as an Epic Games store exclusive, placing his full trust in the new store and moving away from Steam.
From a track record point of view, my expectation is that Epic’s investment in technology will outpace Valve’s substantially. When we look back at Steam in five or ten years, it may look like a dying store and other, competitive stores, will be the place to be.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 13, 2019
His past comments stated that “Epic’s investment in technology will outpace Valve’s substantially.” He also added that Steam could be a “dying” store in 5-10 years. Obviously, this is not the case, as Steam is by far the most popular place for most people to buy games in 2024.
If Epic successfully pressed its advantage, that may have been the case. But Epic did not. So, famously, Steam does very little to earn the massive cut they take and continues its effective monopoly in the West while would-be competitors with much more developer friendly models…
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) August 22, 2024
Since Borderlands 4 has been confirmed for Steam, Randy Pitchford has addressed his comments from the past, claiming that Epic Games didn’t use its advantage properly. He also stated that his long-term hopes for Epic Games were “misplaced and or overly optimistic.” That said, he still expressed his hope for the Epic Games Store to thrive and that it would compete with the monopoly of Steam.
Social Media Reacts to Randy Pitchford’s Comments
While Randy Pitchford’s comments weren’t made in bad faith, it goes without saying the netizens have a lot of stuff to say about it. Social media has a mind of its own, and, as expected, fans are not going to let him go easy.
In particular, X/Twitter saw a barrage of users battling out with the co-founder, even calling his recent comments on the earlier prediction “cope.” Many also defended Steam, but given the massive monopoly of the company when it comes to a game store, it’s hard to go against the notion.
mmmmm smells like cope for this one chief. Also Steam gives such are large array of options and tools for both customers and developers that i have yet to see storefronts like epic put out. Remind me, how long did it take epic to create the simple function of A CART
— doncare8 (@doncare8o) August 22, 2024
Regardless, Borderlands 4 is going to be released in 2025, although the exact date hasn’t been revealed yet. The spinoff game Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, released in 2022, didn’t really hit the mark, so the upcoming game is a big bet for Gearbox Software.
What are your thoughts on Randy Pitchford’s comments? Do you believe Epic Games Store could ever reach the heights of Steam? Let us know in the comments below.
