With Borderlands 4 Set to Ditch Epic Exclusivity, Randy Pitchford Addresses 5-Year-Old Prediction That Steam Would Become a ‘Dying Store’

Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford has responded to social media posts resurfacing his prediction that Steam would become a "dying store" amid the announcement that Borderlands 4 will ditch Epic Games Store exclusivity to launch on Valve's platform at the same time. Five year ago, Pitchford predicted that Steam “may look like a dying store” in the future, with “other competitive stores ..

. the place to be.” At the time, Fortnite maker Epic was at the height of its attempt to disrupt Steam’s monopoly on the PC games market by offering developers a more generous revenue split than Valve does.

Borderlands 3 went on to launch as an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC, much to the annoyance of some PC gamers. Two years later, documents made available as part of Epic’s high-profile lawsuit with Apple revealed Epic paid Borderlands 3 publisher 2K $146 million up front to sell the game for PC exclusively through the Epic Games Store. That’s an eye-watering amount for exclusivity, but those same documents revealed Epic made back its $80 million minimum sales guarantee in the first two weeks.

Despite Epic burning through cash as part of its war with Steam for the hearts and minds of PC gamers, Steam remains the biggest player on the platform — and by a huge margin. And so now, following Borderlands 4’s reveal during Opening Night Live , and the confirmation that the series has ditched Epic Games Store exclusivity to launch on PC on Steam and the Epic Games Store at the same t.