Back in 2019 the EU went after Valve and select publishers on Steam for geo-blocking, then in 2021 they were issued fines which naturally was appealed but it has been dismissed so it's likely Valve will now have to pay up.
As per the press release from September 27th it notes Valve and five games publishers including Bandai, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax infringed EU competition law.
The Commission found that Valve and the five publishers had participated in a group of anti-competitive agreements or concerted practices which were intended to restrict cross-border sales of certain PC video games that were compatible with the Steam platform, by putting in place territorial control functionalities during different periods between 2010 and 2015, in particular the Baltic countries and certain countries in central and Eastern Europe.
Valve brought an action before the General Court of the European Union, seeking to have the decision annulled in
so far as it related to it.In its judgment delivered today, the General Court dismisses the action.
To sum up: Valve allowed the use of Steam keys that were locked to specific regions in the EU, preventing other regions from getting them cheaper which is a breach of EU rules. Valve did already stop doing this years ago as this happened between 2010 and 2015, so this is a more of a historical case that Valve tried fighting on copyright grounds that the EU rejected so they will have to pay the full €1.6m fine.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Peanuts for Valve I'm sure. I wonder if the cost of lawyers trying to fight it was even worth it, lol
pleasereadthemanual Sep 28, 2023
Fuck region locks. For any reason.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualNow, if only governments would outlaw region locking with DVDs and Blu-Rays. Region-locking shows on streaming services is bad enough, but region locking physical media is incredibly greedy. Or how about creating firmware for DVD players that will refuse to play discs not authorized to play in this region? How was anti-consumer behavior like this ever allowed? Was anyone allowed to publish a hardcover book which would combust if a customer attempted to open it in Australia?
Fuck region locks. For any reason.
Yeap, only the "recent" 4K/UHD Blu-ray discs are region-free at last...
Linux_Rocks Sep 28, 2023
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualNow, if only governments would outlaw region locking with DVDs and Blu-Rays. Region-locking shows on streaming services is bad enough, but region locking physical media is incredibly greedy. Or how about creating firmware for DVD players that will refuse to play discs not authorized to play in this region? How was anti-consumer behavior like this ever allowed? Was anyone allowed to publish a hardcover book which would combust if a customer attempted to open it in Australia?Yeah, I remember being pissed about the 3DS having them, and annoyed that the Wii U did. The 3DS was the worse offense, as handhelds were always traditionally region free for the most part.
Fuck region locks. For any reason.
BlackBloodRum Sep 28, 2023
Quoteso they will have to pay the full €1.6m fine.Welp, that's it, Valve is bankrupt!
With that said, a lot of those limits weren't so much about restricting buyers, but rather restricting scalpers who would buy cheap keys from another region and then sell them on third-party websites.
Though, I can't say I agree with the filtering/limits. I do understand the reasoning.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualOr how about creating firmware for DVD players that will refuse to play discs not authorized to play in this region?
In the UK, at least, you could buy DVD players from legitimate stores back in the day which came pre-chipped to avoid all that nonsense. One of my first purchases from Scan was one such player!
rustybroomhandle Sep 28, 2023
Quoting: BlackBloodRumWith that said, a lot of those limits weren't so much about restricting buyers, but rather restricting scalpers who would buy cheap keys from another region and then sell them on third-party websites.I thought it was more about buying a cheap physical game in EU country A that required activation on Steam, but activation would not work in EU country B.
If the ruling would apply to digital keys, it should be perfectly fine to buy games cheaply by using a VPN service in a low-price EU country. No need for a middle man. But I don't think that's gonna fly ... not that I ever tried.
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