Valve was sued for £656 million (approx 764 million euros). The Steam company is accused of using its dominant market position to overcharge a total of 14 million people in the UK.
The complaint – filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London – accuses Valve of “blocking” competition in the PC gaming market. Valve “forces” game publishers to sign up so-called price parity obligationspreventing the sale of securities at lower prices on rival platforms.
The words of Valve’s accusers
“Valve is manipulating the market and taking advantage of British gamers,” he said Vicki Shotbolta digital rights activist, who filed the lawsuit.
According to Shotbolt, this allowed Steam to apply a “excessive commissionup to 30%”, causing British consumers to pay excessive prices for the purchase of PC games and additional content.
It should be noted that the case is known as “collective action“, which means that one person goes to court on behalf of a much larger group of people.
Shotbolt – which Valve accuses of having violated British law on competition for at least six years – says it filed the compensation claim “to stop this illegal conduct and help people recover what they are owed.”
Valve has yet to comment on the incident. Speaking of Steam, we recently discovered that revenues and users are growing.
