Sep 28, 2023 11:39:00

Valve may be fined 250 million yen by the EU as ``blocking games bought cheaply in other countries is illegal''

On Valve's game distribution platform, Steam, etc., different prices are sometimes set for games depending on the region, and users commonly refer to them as ``

Omai Price ''. A court has ruled that Valve, which took advantage of this price difference and instituted ` `geo-blocking' ' that prevents users from activating games purchased cheaply in other countries on Steam, has been accused by the EU. It turns out that Valve's lawsuit was dismissed. Unless it appeals, Valve could face a fine of 1.6 million euros (about 250 million yen).

Online video games: the General Court confirms that geo-blocking of activation keys for the Steam platform infringed EU competition law - cp230147en.pdf
(PDF file) https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-09/cp230147en.pdf

Valve fails to get out of paying its EU geo-blocking fine
https://www.engadget.com/valve-fails-to-get-out-of-paying-its-eu-geo-blocking-fine-122053595.html

In 2019, Valve, which operates the game distribution platform Steam, and five publishers: Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media, and ZeniMax were charged by the EU.

The content was that the game's activation keys were geographically restricted, which could violate EU market competition law.

According to the EU, Valve and five other publishers will apply geo-restrictions to prevent activation keys sold in some countries, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia, from being used in other EU member states. It is said that they agreed. This means that someone living in Germany, for example, will not be able to buy a key in Latvia, where the price is cheaper.

However, these restrictions were in violation of the EU's Digital Single Market rules, which aim to create an open market across the EU.

In response to the accusations, all five publishers, including (PDF file)

Capcom and (PDF file) Bandai Namco , made peace with the EU, but only Valve showed a stance of fighting.

Valve said, ``At the time this investigation began in 2013, only 3% of games sold on Steam were geo-restricted. 'We thought we would not be held responsible, but just to be safe, we abolished geographic restrictions in 2015,' the company said in a statement, insisting that it had complied with the law.

In addition, he expressed the opinion that the removal of regional restrictions would be detrimental to both publishers and users, stating, ``Abolishing geographic restrictions on activation keys would increase the selling price of games in less wealthy countries.'' ``There is a possibility that it will happen,'' he said.

However, Valve's claims were not accepted by the European Court of Justice, which found that the company's geographical restrictions infringed EU competition law.

Valve is still required to pay a fine of 1.6 million euros, but is allowed to appeal within two months and 10 days of the verdict, so the legal battle is likely to continue.

A forum related to this article has been set up on the GIGAZINE official Discord server. Anyone can write freely, so please feel free to comment!

• Discord | 'Have you ever changed your country settings to buy games cheaply on Steam etc?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1156884757850898503