Valve gets involved in a court battle between Apple and Epic Games
Valve gets dragged into Apple and Epic's legal fight over Fortnite | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/valve-gets-dragged-into-apple-and-epics-legal-fight-over-fortnite/
From documents filed in the Northern California District Court in the third week of February 2021, Apple is asking Valve to submit 'a large amount of data on PC game sales' as a source of material in the court battle with Epic Games. Became clear. In response, Valve said, 'This information is exclusive, has nothing to do with Apple's case, it is expensive to create materials, and it is very difficult to create in the first place,' some data said. I refuse to submit.
Valve refuses to submit the following two types of information.
1: Total annual sales of apps and in-app products, annual advertising revenue from Steam, annual sales of external products from Steam, annual revenue from Steam, annual revenue from Steam
2: The name of each app on Steam, the date range when the app became available on Steam, the price of the app and in-app products available on Steam
For information other than the above two, Valve submits data in response to a subpoena . However, Apple said, 'The data submitted has been edited so much that we cannot identify the information that may be contained in it,' suggesting that the data is not being used properly.
Apple asked Valve to provide data about Steam: 'Establishing other platforms that could be an'economic alternative'to the iOS App Store for delivering Fortnite. 'It's important for this,' 'it's extremely important for Epic Games to calculate the total market size of the available digital distribution channels.'
On the other hand, Valve said, 'Valve does not develop and sell games for mobile devices and tablets, nor compete in the mobile market.' 'Fortnite is not available on Steam, and Epic Games is Valve. Has clearly stated that it will not deliver Fortnite on Steam unless it changes its business model, 'argued that Valve and Steam have nothing to do with this legal struggle.
Apple has criticized Valve, which refuses to submit some data, saying that 'Valve acknowledges that the requested information is private, but exists in a readily accessible format.' Valve, meanwhile, said, 'Following the subpoena would require an overwhelming amount of work, which would impose an extraordinary burden on Valve,' and put such a burden on an unrelated court battle. He insisted that he was not forced to do so.
Apple has asked Samsung to submit similar sales-related data in the past, and it seems that a court order forced the submission of data. Taking that case, he argues that Valve should be forced to do the same. However, Valve dismisses Apple's claim that 'Apple, Google, and Samsung are competing in the mobile app market, but Valve is not competing in the mobile app market.'
In addition, Valve did not disclose sales-related information such as sales, explaining that it is to gain an advantage in competing with PC game sales platforms such as Epic Games. I am afraid that if I submit the data in response to this subpoena, it will provide significant information to Epic Games, which also operates a PC game sales platform.
Apple said, 'The information submitted by this request does not include a strategic assessment as it does not describe future plans. That is, there is no competitive or financial risk to Valve. It doesn't happen at all. '
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