People Do How To attempt To sue valvewith the most common claim being that Steam has some sort of monopoly on the PC gaming market. This is probably because Steam may actually have some sort of monopoly on the PC gaming market. The latest attempt to break the Washington-based developer’s stranglehold comes from the small island that rarely manages to do so: the UK, where the company overcharged 14 million UK customers, according to a lawsuit.
The path to this alleged inflated price is somewhat convoluted. The lawsuit, which seeks to sue Valve for HM Pounds 656 million ($838 million), was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London and is based on the allegation that Steam requires publishers to agree to “price parity commitments,” meaning they apparently cannot offer the same games at a lower price on another store.
“Companies that hold a dominant position in a market may not charge excessive or anti-competitive prices,” say the plaintiffs. “Nor may they impose other unfair trading conditions that prevent or hinder others from competing with them.” The specific allegation is:
Valve Corporation [is accused] to eliminate competition in the PC gaming market by forcing game makers to submit to price caps that dictate the lowest price at which games can be sold on competing platforms.
This is orchestrated by a Vicki Scrapthrough the UK equivalent of a class action lawsuit, known as an opt-out collective action claim. Shotbolt, a children’s digital rights activist, is filing the lawsuit through the law firm. Milberg LondonTheir lawyer, Natasha Pearman, explains: “We believe Valve abused its market power in a way that harmed consumers and caused them to overpay for games and in-game content on the Steam platform.” (We have asked Valve for comment.)
The case has a nice website where Brits can sign up for more information. However, as this is an ‘opt-out’ claim, it is strange if you are in the UK and have bought something on Steam since June 2018 and not Want to be part of the case? If it gets certified, you’ll need to visit the website to opt out! The law is weird.
The website further claims that Valve’s market dominance and “price restrictions” also allow the company to “continue to charge an inflated commission” for game sales on Steam. Normally, this is a whopping 30 percent, although for some godforsaken reason, the company only lowers this figure for the largest publishers.
Such claims really seem to be bouncing off Valve, with the courts rejecting the claim that the only realistic store option for bringing PC games to a large audience somehow doesn’t provide unfair advantages. We’ll keep an eye on this.
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