Lawyers in the United Kingdom do not mess around: Valve Corporation, the company behind the Steam platform, has been sued for abusing its dominance of the video game market. It is estimated that 14 million British players are affected and no less than 656 million pounds sterling are requested, which at the current exchange rate amounts to 775.89 million euros. What has happened?
As reported by the BBC itself, the lawsuit has been filed by the digital rights activist Vicki Shotbolt, who has brought the case to the London Competition Appeal Tribunal. The process itself is a class action lawsuit. Being more specific, Shotbolt points out that Steam charges an excessive commission of up to 30%causing British players to pay too much for both video games and DLCs and other payments related to the platform.
In fact, and according to the accusation, Valve is not only taking advantage of players through Steam, but also is excluding competition from the PC video game market by forcing publishers to sign price parity obligations, which not only prevents rival platforms from selling games at cheaper prices, but claims to be violating UK competition law for at least six years .
“Valve is manipulating the market and taking advantage of UK players”
From here we have to ask the big question: how has the demand, worth 775 million euros, been estimated? Vicki Shotbolt not only intends to stop this conduct that she considers completely illegal, but she is determined to help those affected recover “what is owed to them.” In any case, Shotbolt is not alone: the lawsuit is backed by the law firm Milberg London LLP, who are supporting the class action arguing that Valve should be held accountable.
“Competition law exists to protect consumers and ensure that markets function properly”
“When they don’t work properly and consumers are harmed, class actions like this give consumers a voice and a way to hold big companies like Valve accountable.”
Valve has been rethinking its commissions for years, reducing them based on the performance of each game. However, we have not forgotten that the birth of the Epic Games Store raised much more favorable commissions for developers. What is beyond doubt is that, even in those, today Steam has no competition in the PC video game market, not only at the market level, but with players even in Antarctica. Is the claim well founded? The issue is already in the hands of the British judicial system, so we can expect anything.
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