Valve Facing UK Lawsuit Over Pricing and Commissions (reuters.com) 32
An anonymous reader shares a report: Video game developer and distributor Valve must face a 656 million-pound ($897.7 million) lawsuit in Britain, which alleges it charged publishers excessive commissions for its Steam online store, after a tribunal ruled on Monday the case could continue. Valve was sued in 2024 on behalf of up to 14 million people in the United Kingdom who bought games or additional content through Steam or other platforms since 2018.
Lawyers representing children's welfare advocate Vicki Shotbolt, who is bringing the case, allege Valve prevents publishers selling products more cheaply or earlier on rival platforms to Steam by imposing conditions on them. They say Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they've bought that game through the platform, effectively "locking in" users to make purchases on its platform. This allows Valve to charge "unfair and excessive" commissions of up to 30%, Shotbolt's lawyers said at a hearing in October.
Lawyers representing children's welfare advocate Vicki Shotbolt, who is bringing the case, allege Valve prevents publishers selling products more cheaply or earlier on rival platforms to Steam by imposing conditions on them. They say Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they've bought that game through the platform, effectively "locking in" users to make purchases on its platform. This allows Valve to charge "unfair and excessive" commissions of up to 30%, Shotbolt's lawyers said at a hearing in October.
As someone who has released a game on Steam... (Score:5, Interesting)
They took care of content distribution. They took care of international sales / taxes / etc. They took care of currency conversions. They took care of folks who wanted returns (not many, but still).
They made my game accessible world-wide with almost zero effort on my part.
Did I give them a 30% commission to sell my game? Yes. Would I like that percentage to be lower? Sure. Would I call it excessive? Hell no. Especially since retail stores get a similar cut, and I didn't have to worry about manufacturing, distribution, stock, returns, etc.
~D
Re:As someone who has released a game on Steam... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah I don't understand this recent backlash against Steam. They provide an amazing service. They're #1 because all competitors were horrible. I still remember when services like EA Downloader and Direct2Drive would try to charge you an additional fee for "download insurance," otherwise you couldn't re-download your game. Valve never pulled stuff like that, just consistently gives a great customer experience. Is all this just paid-for FUD from Epic?
Re: As someone who has released a game on Steam... (Score:3)
The conclusion of your comment is also my conclusion on the subject, or very close to it. There are plenty of interested parties, the funding didn't have to come from epic games. Since valve is by far the best at what they do the other players can't outcompete them.
Re:As someone who has released a game on Steam... (Score:4, Interesting)
The issues I see here is that Steam isn't anything like the other two. Steam isn't the default app store of any OS besides SteamOS, and even it gives more easy access to competing stores then Android. Not to mention, this lawsuit is based on sales from 2018, way before SteamOS was revived, so it wouldn't apply. Because of this, the lawsuit can't claim a lack of competition due to muscling out others from "their" devices.
While they can claim that Steam is the largest player and thus a monopoly, it wouldn't work because they aren't using their size negatively against their competition. They aren't blocking others on their devices, they aren't putting up road blocks to competitors, and unless I'm missing something they haven't been making deals to prevent competition. Google and Apple have had court loses due to these types of abuses of power, but again, unless I'm missing something, Valve hasn't done any of those.
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And yet, when Apple provides all the same services, their fees are called "excessive".
That's the problem - everyone says Apple's fees are excessive, they sue Apple over it, and now it's moving to other stores doing the same thing because if Apple was excessive, Steam offering the same services was also excessive.
That's what's happening. Of course, one could also argue that you don't have to use Steam if you don't wan
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The problem was that Apple was locking out any alternative store from their devices. Steam isn't doing that on any device.
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The PC is an open platform, and even Valve's own creations do not lock people into their platform. Hell, Valve created them because of the threat of Microsoft trying to pull an Apple with the Microsoft Store.
So no, Apple's fees are excessive. They exist because Apple designed the hardware to enforce them at the user's and developer's expense, and it's a real testament has to how bad Apple's fees actu
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Yeah I don't understand this recent backlash against Steam.
It's the whole "Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they've bought that game through the platform, effectively "locking in" users to make purchases on its platform " that's the issue.
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Yeah I don't understand this recent backlash against Steam.
Money hungry fucks want more money. This is just the latest bandwagon they are jumping on to get it.
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And yet, the market existed this way for decades before digital markets even existed.
And yet, people still hate that others might have a choice about how they consume a product.
Heads in the clouds (Score:3, Insightful)
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When Cloud Gaming will take over, they won't believe how good they have it with Steam, Itch.io, and GOG.
Which will be the day after my flying unicorn is delivered.
I'm not anti-steam (quite the opposite) but if a law has been broken or even a commercial contract, let the courts sort it. We're not like the US where you can judge shop and have your case heard to a foregone conclusion in some ultra friendly court headed six toe Steve in west Norfolk.
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The same cannot be said of Playstation / Xbox / Nintendo / Google / Apple / etc. They all enforce their fees through hardware controls built into the consumer devices they sell. Valve doesn't. Not even on their own Steam Machines / Deck. Epic / Microsoft / Apple and their ilk are just as welcome on SteamOS as Valve itself.
The difference is the hardware enforced restrictions.
Re: That ought to shut up those that say (Score:2)
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Valve is the current incumbent, it's going to take a lot of effort to get people to switch to a new platform, let alone remove Valve from the top, but it's possible for you to try and do it.
Apple / Google / etc. FORBID anything that could even remotely pose a threat to them, and they have their hardware ensure it says that way. You can't compete because they dictate who's allowed t
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s/says/stays/g
Federation (Score:2)
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Gaining dominance was great for Valve but it means lack of competitiveness, lack of choice, stagnation for everyone else
"children's welfare" (Score:2)
So, some dumb cunt, who knows nothing about children or welfare, is bringing a case against Steam that has nothing to with either children or their welfare?
legally mandated enshitification (Score:1)
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Dude take a breath.
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Slashd... (cough!)
--
At ease, soldier. I'm kidding.
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Although, it's more of a function of the industry they cover being increasingly shitty over the decades than of the site itself*.
(*: The great 4-chan migration notwithstanding.)
Steam needs more accountability (Score:1)
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Firstly, you cannot refund DLC if you've played the base game for more than 2 hours, this is stated up front in Steam's T&Cs. You only mention reading FAQs; did you actually try contacting Steam support to fix the DLC entitlement? They have 14 days after being notified of the problem to respond. It'll be complicated by the fact that BF6 is actually delivered via EA Play so they may indeed redirect you to EA's own support.
Secondly, you're incorrect about refunds within 30 days. Under UK law that applies [legislation.gov.uk]
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No you're not entitled to any refund for DLCs and software along with other media specifically allows a waver of the right of withdrawal in all countries where such a law has been implemented. You're entitled to refunds as per Steam's T&C, and DLC is never covered.
It also sounds like you are complaining about the wrong thing. It's trivially easy to verify if a DLC has been correctly applied. I had a problem like you as well with the DLC for Two-Point University. I contacted Steam and they verified I had