By Valve Corporation, the owner of the world’s largest PC gaming distribution platform with Steam, is being sued for £656 million in the UK.
BBC News reports that the gaming giant is being accused of using its market dominance to overcharge 14 million people in the UK.
Digital rights campaigner Vicki Shotbolt is bringing the case with a filing placed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London. The collective action claim reportedly accuses Valve of “shutting out” competition in the PC gaming market and breaching UK competition law for at least six years.
It reportedly alleges that Valve “forces” game publishers to sign up to ‘price parity obligations’ that prevent titles from being sold at cheaper prices on rival platforms.
As a result, it’s claimed this enables Steam to charge an “excessive commission” and UK consumers “pay too much for purchasing PC games and add-on content”.
VG Insights indicates Steam generated a record $9 billion in revenue in 2023 with 580 million games sold.
The platform has effectively monopolised the PC gaming market with around 50-70% of all PC game downloads hailing from Steam – to put that in perspective Apple’s iPhone boasted a 29% share of the market in 2023.
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