So your grievance is with an imaginary timeline you've invented? Has it occured to you the Epic's interest and the release date announcement were only a coincidence?
Which is how we can tell you don't know what you are talking about.
Weaponizing charity is exactly what they did.
Money is money. Pretending like there is a difference based on when it comes in is total nonsense. Many devs are up to their eyeballs in debt. An exclusivity deal from Epic that lets them pay that all off in one fell swoop is financing as much as anything else.
No. And EGS isn't forcing games to be EGS only. Valve assumes costs involved with Steamwork features that, once integrated, make games defacto exclusives. Devs save on cost in exchange for tying their game to Steam. EGS just writes checks instead. Either method echanges financial benefits for exclusivity.