According to Tim Sweeney, Steam players are suffering without LoL, Fortnite, and Genshin Impact

Tim Sweeney rolled out the idea of Team Open as a way to tie together the social layers and in-game economies that now sit in separate silos. He wants players to step from one virtual space to another without losing progress, friends, or purchases — a kind of portability for accounts and items. That sounds useful; it also runs straight into how companies actually behave.

Sweeney pointed a finger at Valve’s model, arguing that Steam’s absence on mobile and its lack of presence in some big-name catalogs (Fortnite, Riot titles, Genshin Impact) shrinks potential audiences. He contrasts that with moves by Microsoft and Epic, who, e.g., adopted lower platform fees to give devs more breathing room. The tension is obvious: interoperability vs. closed platforms, open standards vs. walled gardens.

He’s betting that, as the market gets rougher, a cross-platform infrastructure will become the practical path for keeping game ecosystems usable and for allowing creators to reach players across devices. I’m not sure that’s the only route—business incentives, legal issues, and tech friction all complicate it—but it’s a clear attempt to push industry incentives in a different direction.