Valve, the Anticorporate Hero of the Games Industry, Has Its Antitrust Moment
Lawsuits in the US and the UK allege the company’s Steam store is abusing its market power. Valve disagrees.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat…team-has-echoes-of-apple-google-app-store-sui
Valve antitrust lawsuit reportedly reveals lengths Steam owner is willing to go to prevent cheaper prices elsewhere
Even the big publishers supposedly aren’t safe.
Bloomberg cites two high-profile cases referenced in the ongoing lawsuit, one involving Ubisoft, and another Warner Bros. Based on employee testimony, and other records uncovered in the discovery phase, Valve allegedly threatened to delist all editions of Rainbow Six Siege after Ubisoft offered a cheaper option on its Uplay store.
Uplay featured a $15 USD Rainbow Six Siege Starter Pack, but this version was not available on Steam, making the cheapest option on Valve’s platform much more expensive. It’s claimed Valve insisted Ubisoft swiftly remedy the discrepancy, giving the publisher “until the end of day tomorrow” to change that.
In the second instance, Warner Bros. found itself in a similar situation. In 2017, as the publisher was preparing to launch Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the company was allegedly informed by Valve that pre-orders for the game had been removed from Steam.
Valve’s reasoning was that the price was “significantly higher than what was available at other retailers for the same version of the game.” David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, allegedly tried to resolve the situation directly with Valve so as not to face its ire.
https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-antitrust-lawsuits-ubisoft-warner-bros-report