What developers seem to forget is how much stuff they get in return from Valve:
Valve invests heavily into Linux gaming, because they know it’s how you keep all those games working in the long run. (Proton)
Valve takes care of download bandwidth forever.
Built-in streaming and remote play together
The Steam Deck and upcoming SteamOS for the console-like experience
Forums
The workshop and mods
Chat and social networking features
Steam Input, and my beloved Steam Controller
Achievements
The Epic store is just, here’s the game files loaded with DRM, try to enjoy. Why even sell through a store and not provide a direct download at this point and get 100% of the sales?
I only buy on Steam because I want Valve to have their 30% cut, because they invest it in the community for everyone’s benefit, including Epic’s games and customers who want to play on Linux or the Steam Deck. Epic would be perfectly happy with the subbar Windows handheld experience because “it’s how PC gaming works”. Proton is amazing, it even eliminates variance that would exist on real Windows machines which results in more games just working right out of the box compared to Windows, esepcially very old ones.
Between Epic and Valve, I’ll pick the one that makes gaming better for everyone.