Gearbox: 'Steam is a money grab'

Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford has questioned the amount of control Valve holds over its digital distribution platform Steam.

Speaking to Maximum PC, Pitchford suggested that Steam would be better served as an independent resource rather than solely controlled by the studio.

"There's so much conflict of interest there that it's horrid," he said. "It's actually really, really dangerous for the rest of the industry to allow Valve to win."

Pitchford expressed his trust and admiration for Valve, after Gearbox was established with the PS2 port of Half-Life and its subsequent expansion packs. However, he stated that he simply does not agree with the firm's approach to the Steam platform.

"I love Valve games, and I do business with the company. But, I'm just saying, Steam isn't the answer. Steam helps us as customers, but it's also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that's not totally fair," he said.

"Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service it's providing. It's exploiting a lot of small guys. For us big guys, we're going to sell the units and it will be fine."

Steam currently offers over 730 games and has in excess of 20 million registered user accounts.

Back in July, Valve's Doug Lombardi claimed that the platform actually helps to boost game sales at both retail and online outlets due to the promotions it runs.