A new lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the UK that alleges Valve, owner of Steam, has been overcharging 14 million PC gamers and abusing its dominant position in the UK.
  •  arglebargle   ( @westyvw@lemm.ee ) English
    42•5 months ago

    Really? Don’t fuck with valve. I hate every single other launcher.

    They are the ONLY game service that caters to Linux users. There are millions of Linux gamers, seems to me like the other companies are abusing their dominant position of using Windows to keep linux users out. How about that?

    •  teawrecks   ( @teawrecks@sopuli.xyz ) 
      4•5 months ago

      What if the legislation required that content platforms provide an API that adhered to an open standard? Such that there could be open source clients that unify them all (not just janky ones that do their best to not break with every platform update), so that consumers can have their libraries in one place, and still browse all store deals in one place.

      Ideally the legislation would also extend to all content including music, shows, movies, and internet content/streams, so that we don’t have to have separate apps for Netflix, and Hulu, and Amazon, and HBO, and Roku, etc.

  •  blindsight   ( @blindsight@beehaw.org ) 
    15•5 months ago

    Essentially, this hinges on whether demanding price parity with other platforms is anticompetitive… I think that’s going to be a tough hill to climb, especially as they’re only asking to not be undercut as a supplier. There’s no requirement to sell exclusively through Steam, and Steam even allows developers to give Steam keys on other platforms, including with game bundles that have a total “value” well below Steam sale prices.

    Like, I use Steam daily, and buy multiple games most months in game bundles, but in the last few years, I’ve only made a handful of purchases on Steam. One game and my Steam Deck Dock were my only Steam purchases this calendar year, and my Steam Deck OLED and two games were my only purchases last year, but in that time I added about 150 new games to my Steam library.

    •  tristan   ( @tristan@aussie.zone ) 
      11•5 months ago

      I don’t think people realise how generous steam is by allowing Devs to sell steam keys on other platforms and still handle all the distribution and updates and everything for a key they didn’t get paid for, and all they ask is you give the same or better deal to customers who purchase direct through steam

    •  frazorth   ( @frazorth@feddit.uk ) 
      5•5 months ago

      Essentially, this hinges on whether demanding price parity with other platforms is anticompetitive…

      No it’s not. This hinges on whether you can sell the generated free Steam keys on other sites for less than the price you have set on Steam.

      You can absolutely sell your game on another site for less. You can’t sell your game on another site for less and make Steam pick up the infrastructure costs.

        •  frazorth   ( @frazorth@feddit.uk ) 
          4•5 months ago

          The only claim anyone has ever documented is detailed in the article.

          An accusation doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right though. Something people get confused on often is Steam Keys, which are completely separate to Steam Store purchases. Valve do ask developers not to “give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam Key purchasers”

          You can read through all the claimants key documents if you like 😉

          https://steamyouoweus.co.uk/updates/

          So far no one has ever shown Valve asking for price parity with other outlets, and this doesn’t appear to be any different. Just a lawyer looking for a payday.

  •  Raphaël A. Costeau   ( @whodoctor11@lemmy.ml ) English
    11•5 months ago

    Absolutely nonsense. Nothing Valve has done prevents the competition from doing a better job.

    Skill issue.

    EDIT: Apparently, the complaint was filed by the CEO of a “Parental Control” company that has a partnership with Meta. This story becomes increasingly ridiculous.

  •  PowerCrazy   ( @PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml ) English
    8•5 months ago

    lol I’m as anti-capitalist as the next internet leftist, and I absolutely think it would be fucking awesome if Steam were replaced by a national digital distribution service that have flat costs for publishing, and high quality standards before allowing a game to be published. Gold-digging lawsuits aren’t on the path to that better world though.