Tim Sweeney doubled down on his criticism of Steam this week, claiming that high platform fees push major developers like MiHoYo to skip Valve's storefront entirely. The comment backfired almost immediately, as fans pointed out that Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo, now operating under the HoYoverse and Cognosphere banners, has been on Steam for years and is actively expanding there.
What Sweeney actually said
The comment came via a post on X (formerly Twitter), where Sweeney responded to a user who sarcastically suggested Epic's absence from Steam was Valve's fault. Sweeney's reply was direct: "Steam charges such high fees that developers with strong brands and big enough audiences, like Epic, Riot, and MiHoYo find it more profitable to go it alone. Ironically, lower fees and more openness might increase Steam profit."
Here's the thing: the argument itself isn't unreasonable. Steam's standard revenue cut sits at 30% for most developers, dropping to 25% after $10 million in sales and 20% after $50 million. For a studio generating hundreds of millions annually from a live service game, that math does get uncomfortable fast.
The problem is the example Sweeney chose.
The community note that made things awkward
Sweeney's post was quickly flagged with a Twitter community note clarifying that MiHoYo has had games on Steam since the 2021 relaunch of Honkai Impact 3rd. More pointedly, HoYoverse released its action RPG Zenless Zone Zero on Steam just weeks ago, and it landed to strong reviews and solid numbers.
Zenless Zone Zero's Steam launch came alongside its major 3.0 update, which served as a significant milestone for the game. That's not the behavior of a studio that finds Steam unprofitable.
Files spotted inside the HoYoverse launcher have also hinted that a Steam release of Genshin Impact itself may be in development, though this could reflect shared code rather than a confirmed plan. Genshin is around six weeks away from its own major milestone, update 7.0, which opens the long-awaited Snezhnaya region and the final arc of the game's current overarching story. A Steam launch timed to that update would make strategic sense.
The Epic partnership complicates Sweeney's argument
Sweeney didn't mention it in his post, but both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail are available on the Epic Games Store, which takes a smaller cut than Steam's standard 30%. HoYoverse made a notable public show of its Epic partnership back in 2021, and both games have performed well enough to sit in Epic's top tier.
What most players miss is that reach matters as much as revenue split. The Epic Games Store commands a much smaller slice of the PC audience than Steam, and Epic's own data shows only 16 to 18% of users who claim free games on the store go on to buy anything there. HoYoverse would have weighed those numbers against the Steam audience size when deciding where to distribute.
Zenless Zone Zero is the smallest of HoYoverse's current live games, trailing Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail across most measurable metrics. That may have made it a lower-risk test case for Steam. Zenless also allowed account linking, so existing players could migrate to Steam without losing progress or purchase history, which removes one of the bigger friction points for a platform switch.
What this means for Genshin players
If HoYoverse does bring Genshin Impact to Steam, it would open the game to a significantly larger PC audience. The Genshin Impact guides collection already covers everything from new character releases to active reward codes, and a Steam version would likely bring a wave of new players looking for exactly that kind of resource.
Sweeney's broader point about platform fees and developer incentives is a real conversation worth having. The timing and the example just didn't land. HoYoverse is clearly running its own calculus on where to distribute its games, and right now that calculus is pointing toward more Steam presence, not less. Watch update 7.0 closely for any official word on a Genshin Steam release.
