The Competition Appeal Tribunal in London issued a £656 million (or $841.09 million) lawsuit against Valve. The developer has been accused of using Steam to overcharge 14 million players across the UK.
trans BBC, Valve is accused of requiring publishers to sign price parity commitments that prevent games from being sold on other platforms at lower prices. Vicky Shotbolt, a campaigner for digital rights, also highlighted Steam’s “exorbitant commission of up to 30 percent”.
According to her, this 30 percent means that players are “paying too much for the purchase of computer games and additional content.” Shotbolt has previously accused Valve of breaching UK competition law and hopes to “give people back what they’re owed”.
Valve has previously been criticized for taking 30 percent of its revenue from game purchases. Most often, that criticism (both vocal, yes legal) came from the developers and it allowed Epic games to create your own programs to give the studios a bigger cut.
Similar concerns have been expressed about Steam’s monopoly on the PC gaming market. In her statement, Shotbolt claimed Valve had “rigged the market and taken advantage of UK players”.