Valve calls Epic Games’ exclusivity agreement “unfair”

Epic Games might have just declared war on Valve.

After weeks of being available for preorder on Steam, Metro Exodus was suddenly made unavailable on the platform. The move comes as a result of an exclusive partnership between Metro Exodus publisher Deep Silver and Epic Games to make the post-apocalyptic shooter exclusively available for sale on the Epic Games Store. It was just 18 days away from release.

Long a staple of the industry, Epic Games has become bigger than ever courtesy of the booming popularity of Fortnite. This empowered the company to launch its own digital distribution platform in December, with the goal of creating a rival to the entrenched Steam service.

In the weeks since, Epic has made a series of maneuvers to court both developers and gamers to the platform. The biggest part of this endeavor has been securing exclusive games, an effort which has already brought in Ubisoft’s The Division 2 and Supergiant Games’ Hades: Battle Out of Hell. While securing content is just good business, the move to snatch Metro Exodus away from Steam could be seen as outright hostile.

Valve expressed frustration over the move. Making a rare post on the game’s Steam page, the company stated that the sudden move to the Epic Games Store after a lengthy pre-sale period was “unfair to Steam customers.”

Though Metro Exodus is no longer available on Steam, Deep Silver confirmed on its community page that it will still honor all preorders made on the platform and deliver them accordingly. In a separate post on the game’s website, the publisher stated this move will also not affect those who preordered a physical copy, or purchased the game through a third-party key seller like Humble Bundle. Finally, it was noted that future DLC will be made available through Steam and that the exclusivity will only last for one year.

Metro Exodus is set to launch on February 15, exclusively on the Epic Games Store. Look for other major releases to join it in the near future.