Like a hyena on an injured lion, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is jumping Valve co-founder Gabe Newell while he’s down in the immediate aftermath of this week’s Steam Deck price hike that took the handheld’s top OLED model all the way up to $950.
It’s a rare sight to see an industry leader forgo the usual business formalities that typically mask long-simmering rivalries between top-level competitors, but on Thursday, May 28, just a day after Valve revealed its new Steam Deck pricing, Sweeney sent out a blistering tweet obviously, but not explicitly, aimed at Newell. In the tweet, Sweeney sarcastically feigns sympathy for Valve as it faces widespread backlash against the price increase – just before going for the throat with a jab at Newell’s notorious affinity for luxury yachts and other outrageously expensive naval vessels.
“Everyone’s being too harsh here,” reads Sweeney’s tweet. “There has been a significant rise in the cost of components that Steam customer spending ultimately funds, and economic trends have created severe disruptions in the component parts supply chain for megayachts.”
Everyone’s being too harsh here. There has been a significant rise in the cost of components that Steam customer spending ultimately funds, and economic trends have created severe disruptions in the component parts supply chain for megayachts. pic.twitter.com/w8iHVdSatKMay 28, 2026
Sweeney’s beef with Newell goes back years to at least 2018 when emails emerged out of a lawsuit in which he slammed the “assholes” at Valve for Steam’s controversial revenue split with developers. Naturally, the Epic Games Store living in Steam’s shadow since its release likely has a compounding effect on Sweeney’s animosity, which mostly seems to lean one way, with Newell largely remaining silent on the whole matter. For all we know, Newell is either asleep or scuba diving as we speak.
It’s also worth noting that Sweeney himself isn’t exactly a PR darling at the moment, with Epic having recently laid off more than 1,000 employees shortly after raising prices on Fortnite V-Bucks considerably. In this seemingly one-sided quarrel between billionaire CEOs, it seems no one comes out on top.
Valve allegedly had higher Steam Machine prices in mind before the Steam Deck hike, but I need you not to assume the worst
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