Borderlands CEO says his hopes on Epic Store were 'overly optimistic or misplaced'

After years of exclusivity on the Epic Store, Borderlands 4 is back on Steam...and Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford shares some candid thoughts on the Epic Games Store as a whole.

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Back in 2019, Gearbox shocked PC gamers by announcing that Borderlands 3 would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store. The move was a big bet from the Fortnite-maker, who was spending millions to secure exclusive games for its fledgling PC storefront in a bid to attract more users. Years later, Borderlands is back on Steam, with Borderlands 4 planning to launch on both EGS and Valve's store.

So what happened exactly? From a business perspective, it seems a bit straightforward--Steam is much bigger than the Epic Store and can potentially rake in more sales. So it makes sense to release new games onto Steam. But back in 2019, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford believed in the Epic Store to a greater extent than he does now, so much that he declared Steam may "look like a dying store" in 5-10 years.

In a rather long and illuminating Tweet, Pitchford shares his thoughts on previous Borderlands exclusivity deal, on the Epic Store as a whole, and how he believes his initial gusto for Epic's challenging shop may have been misguided and misplaced.

If Epic successfully pressed its advantage, that may have been the case [that Steam will look like a dying store in 5 or 10 years].

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 continue to shoot themselves in the foot. I am a Steam customer and Steam developer that will continue to root for and support competition.

Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands demonstrated clearly that the customers show up for the games, not the store front. But the industry gives Steam their monopoly because publishers are afraid to take the risk to support more developer and publisher friendly stores. It's all very interesting and there is a huge amount of opportunity in the PC gaming space for retail disruption, but no one seems to be able to make it happen.

I had high hopes for Epic - hopes that were validated in the moment of the Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands launches.

But my long term hope (that appeared in a dozens-long Tweet storm I did five years ago) regarding Epic's store were misplaced or overly optimistic.

It's a cool lesson for me and anyone who wants to learn from my experience. Moving forward, we'll continue to support Steam (as we have for literally every PC games we've launched since Steam came into existence. Meanwhile, I sincerely hope Epic keeps up the fight and makes headway.

Epic is going to have to prioritize the store and try some new initiatives while also doubling down on earning pivotal exclusives if it is going to have a chance. I also hope other viable competitors arrive.

I am sure we will all be watching. As a developer I will continue to balance being where the customers are with being where I wished would earn the customers trust and loyalty. As a game player, I will be on all the platforms.

Borderlands 4 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, the Epic Games Store, and Steam in 2025.