Valve are in the legal spotlight again following the EU Commission Fine with a few more Steam troubles, as a new lawsuit has emerged with a claim about an "abuse" of their market power.
First picked up by the Hollywood Reporter, which has the full document showing the lawsuit was filed on January 28, was filed by 5 people together and doesn't appear to have any major companies backing it. The suit mentions how Valve require developers to sign an agreement that contains a "Most Favored Nations" provision to have developers keep the price of their games the same on Steam as other platforms. To be clear, they're talking about the Steam Distribution Agreement which isn't public and not what we can all see in the Steamworks documentation which talks about keys.
This means (if the claim is actually true) that developers cannot have their game on itch, GOG, Humble or anywhere else at a lower price, and so the lawsuit claims that other platforms are unable to compete on pricing "thereby insulating the Steam platform from competition" and that it "acts as an artificial barrier to entry by potential rival platforms and as higher prices lead to less sales of PC Games".
As part of the lawsuit it also names CD Projekt, Ubisoft, Devolver Digital and others.
It argues that if developers could legitimately set their own prices across different stores, they could lower their prices on stores that take a lower cut and "generate the same or even greater revenue per game as a result of the lower commissions, while lowering prices to consumers". They even directly bring up posts on Twitter from the Epic Games CEO, Tim Sweeney, like this one from 2019:
Steam has veto power over prices, so if a multi-store developer wishes to sell their game for a lower price on the Epic Games store than Steam, then: 1) Valve can simply say “no” 2) Pricing disparity would likely anger Steam users, leading to review bombing, etc
What are your thoughts on this? Should Valve be forced to allow developers to set their own prices, and not require their price to be the same as other stores?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPwhich I still think is unlikely because why make an entirely baseless claim to waste your time and money (lawyers, etc.) with?
https://heelbynature.com/wrestling-news/wwe-news/judge-dismisses-frivolous-lawsuit-against-wwe-filed-by-fan/
And again, there are flaws in the lawsuit, like the Microsoft Store claim, which is just wrong. If they can't even get something as simple as this right...?
Soon somebody will sue GamingOnLinux for monopolizing its pages and preventing writers from posting about windows and not allowing other news providers to host their own comments section under the articles.
But of course not before I sue myself for monopolizing the space of this post.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPI don't see how I minimize other practices. I just explained how as a developer, you do what you have to in order to stay afloat.
The practice of Steam of not allowing lower prices on other stores, if true, is what I criticize.
What examples of lower prices are you talking about?
If it is about Steam keys, those are excempt from the contract if I understood that correctly.
If there are more than those, then it is quite possible Steam didn't "catch" those (not all contractually "illegal" things are brought to court, after all) or the claim is indeed baseless - which I still think is unlikely because why make an entirely baseless claim to waste your time and money (lawyers, etc.) with?
Well, in the moment you accept that devs following other anti-consumer practices it's okay because they need the extra money you're minimizing those practices.
Regarding some examples (Using US prices):
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/football-manager-2021-touch/home
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1263860/Football_Manager_2021_Touch/
But you have to pay the same price for the FM2021 regular edition. Either way, there are many examples of price difference between GOG, Steam and Epic.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPCustomers get screwed
... Or the opposite - that it ensures that Steam users are getting a lower price than they would if not.
I mean, it could easily go both ways, that devs would be adding the Valve cut on Steam (40% isn't it?), while operating with a different price elsewhere.
Quoting: BeamboomQuoting: TheSHEEEPCustomers get screwed
... Or the opposite - that it ensures that Steam users are getting a lower price than they would if not.
I mean, it could easily go both ways, that devs would be adding the Valve cut on Steam (40% isn't it?), while operating with a different price elsewhere.
It's 20-30%, depending on the revenue that's been generated.
Quoting: MalBut of course not before I sue myself for monopolizing the space of this post.
Tell Sweeney this space also belongs to steam, and he'll help you with the proce$$
Quoting: x_wingWell, in the moment you accept that devs following other anti-consumer practices it's okay because they need the extra money you're minimizing those practices.There is a VERY large difference between selling your game on a store that everyone can use (hell, even we can by now via some frontends) with the only inconvenience being that you have to use something other than Steam for up to one year if you really want that game right now on one hand.
And on the other hand you have the practice of forcing developers to ask the same prices everywhere, even on places where you could ask for less due to a lower cut (or maybe because you want to push that other platform).
One is a minor to medium inconvenience for customers (and not even illegal), the other (again, if true) a serious misuse of market power that could prevent a gain of profit especially for smaller developers.
As well as artificially trying to uphold a monopoly-like market position - which is almost certainly illegal in itself.
Apples and oranges.
Quoting: BeamboomOr the opposite - that it ensures that Steam users are getting a lower price than they would if not.That's a very far-fetched theory. I don't see any reason to expect that developers would suddenly raise their prices on one platform because they can lower their prices on another.
I mean, it could easily go both ways, that devs would be adding the Valve cut on Steam (40% isn't it?), while operating with a different price elsewhere.
It's not like Valve increases their cut - if they did, that would lead to higher prices on Steam.
Most likely scenario is no price changes for the most part with a few devs or publishers lowering prices on platforms with a lower cut.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 1 February 2021 at 4:01 pm UTC
rustybroomhandle Feb 1, 2021
Mohandevir Feb 1, 2021
They know that 12% won't allow them to compete but are trying to force everyone to a lower quality service nonetheless. No thank you!
Quoting: TheSHEEEPQuoting: x_wingWell, in the moment you accept that devs following other anti-consumer practices it's okay because they need the extra money you're minimizing those practices.There is a VERY large difference between selling your game on a store that everyone can use (hell, even we can by now via some frontends) with the only inconvenience being that you have to use something other than Steam for up to one year if you really want that game right now on one hand.
And on the other hand you have the practice of forcing developers to ask the same prices everywhere, even on places where you could ask for less due to a lower cut (or maybe because you want to push that other platform).
One is a minor to medium inconvenience for customers (and not even illegal), the other (again, if true) a serious misuse of market power that could prevent a gain of profit especially for smaller developers.
As well as artificially trying to uphold a monopoly-like market position - which is almost certainly illegal in itself.
Apples and oranges.
Maybe it's "minor" or "medium" inconvenience for someone like you that lives in a first world country and/or don't care on using a non-native client in order to get a game, but for many others it is a major inconvenience (and mostly a deal breaker). It's now clear to me that you minimize other practices because you are unable to think beyong the consecuences you get by them.
So no, this isn't in anyway an apples and oranges comparison. For many of us here buying a game on Steam is not about being fanboys, it's just about what is a better deal.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me