Steam's Valve faces $1.3 billion lawsuit for allegedly overcharging 14 million gamers
Valve, the company behind the PC game sales platform Steam, has been sued in the UK for abusing its market power by overcharging publishers and customers.
Valve faces $843 million lawsuit in UK for allegedly overcharging 14 million gamers | TechSpot
Valve is being sued in the UK for $843 million for 'overcharging 14 million PC gamers and abusing its dominant position' with Steam | PC Gamer
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/valve-is-being-sued-in-the-uk-for-dollar-843-million-for-overcharging-14-million-pc-gamers-and-abusing-its-dominant-position-with-steam/
The lawsuit was filed in the UK by digital rights activist Vicky Schottbolt and seeks £656 million (about 130 billion yen) from Valve.
According to Schottbolt's lawsuit, Valve forces publishers to enter into price agreements, restricting them from selling their games on platforms other than Steam for less than they can sell them on Steam. In addition, because Steam charges publishers a commission of up to 30%, publishers are forced to set sales prices that include the commission, which is to the detriment of consumers.
Schottbolt accused Valve of breaching UK competition law for at least six years, and estimated that up to 14 million UK PC gamers may have been unknowingly overcharged.
Technology media outlet TechSpot points out similarities between this lawsuit and one filed against Sony in 2022.
In 2022, a UK consumer rights group filed a lawsuit against Sony seeking damages of up to £5 billion (approximately 1 trillion yen) for allegedly charging too high commissions on its game sales platform, PlayStation Store. The lawsuit also claims that the 30% sales commission that Sony imposes on publishers forces publishers to raise prices, resulting in consumers being disadvantaged. The lawsuit was later heard and a ruling was made that a class action lawsuit worth up to £6.3 billion (approximately 1.3 trillion yen) must be filed.
Sony faces a class action lawsuit of up to 1.2 trillion yen, claiming that it is illegal to sell PlayStation games exclusively on the PlayStation Store while collecting 30% of the sales price as a commission - GIGAZINE
A similar lawsuit was filed against Valve in the United States, but was dismissed on the grounds that 'Steam's sales fees are considered commensurate with the value of the platform providing free services to publishers.'
Complaint against Steam that 30% commission violates antitrust law dismissed - GIGAZINE
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