@themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Valve antitrust lawsuit reportedly reveals lengths Steam owner is willing to go to prevent cheaper prices elsewhere
2026-06-03 07:16 UTC
Replies (10)
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@lime@feddit.nu 2026-06-03 08:12
they’re saying that publishers can’t take a higher price on steam than on other platforms.
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@mrvictory1@lemmy.world 2026-06-03 13:46
What? I made a purchase from Epic instead of Steam since they didn’t make the MENA currency change and as a result many older games are significantly cheaper on Epic in my country. For example Celeste’s base price on Epic is 66 cents in my country with no discount (currently on %75 discount) versus 10 USD with no sale and 2.5 USD currently on Steam.
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@littleomid@feddit.org 2026-06-03 15:41
Ah, I see the valve bootlickers are already here. Lemmings hate companies, unless it’s Valve.
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@it_depends_man@lemmy.world 2026-06-03 08:17
Bloomberg cites two high-profile cases referenced in the ongoing lawsuit, one involving Ubisoft, and another Warner Bros. First of all, I trust Ubi and WB way less than valve. Valve allegedly threatened to delist all editions of Rainbow Six Siege after Ubisoft offered a cheaper option on its Uplay store. Yeah. Because it violates their policy. That’s not a “threat”, those are the terms of the contract Ubi and WB agreed to. Terms that everyone has to follow. Heck, Ubi and WB should be hit with a counter suit for trying to leverage their market position to exert control over valve and getting unusually favorable terms. Clown suit. Ubi and WB are mad they can’t break their contract with valve in a one sided way. edit: I forgot some context: The deal between valve and a publisher or dev is: they can sell on steam and elsewhere if steam is at least tied in price, or cheaper, but when they sell somewhere else, that includes the steam key and access to steam and steam’s distribution at no cost. What the devs and publishers wanted to do was leverage other features of steam and the steam ecosystem, while undercutting steam’s price. They are always free to just not sell on steam for a cheaper price. That’s not what this is about. edit2: partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys “Steam Key Rules and Guidelines”
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@osanna@lemmy.vg 2026-06-04 05:35
remind me again how Gaben is a GoOd BiLlIoNaIrE?
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@520@lemmy.zip 2026-06-03 12:19
I love valve as much as the next PC gamer, but I agree their rules should not affect what publishers do entirely on other platforms.
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@mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-06-04 23:26
What if we turn it on it’s other side and say: In the interest of its customers, Valve prohibits publishers from selling for a higher price on Steam than somewhere else.
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@WraithGear@lemmy.world 2026-06-05 05:24
can’t be doing that steam. stopping people from undercutting you by selling steam key cheaper elsewhere and avoiding steam cut, sure. mandating price parity in other situations, no bueno. gonna lose this one probably
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@kepix@lemmy.world 2026-06-04 16:04
The suit, which is ongoing, centers on what the developers alleged was a tacit company policy designed to punish them for offering discounts at competing online stores. But instead of defending the purported rule, Newell just denied it existed. “Valve does not have a policy or practice of dictating prices to third-party software developers on other platforms,” he said, according to a previously unreported transcript of his deposition. Presented with internal communications in which Valve employees appeared to be enforcing the rule, Newell repeated his denial, at times verbatim, again and again. When an attorney pressed him on how Valve would react if a developer did charge less money for a game on a competing store, Newell demurred. “I’m confused by your question,” he said, before later adding, “Many of our partners and many of our customers are quite happy with the service that we’re providing.” from the bloomberg article.
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@OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 2026-06-04 16:32
Valve allegedly threatened to delist all editions of Rainbow Six Siege after Ubisoft offered a cheaper option on its Uplay store. Similar tactics to Amazon