A new case accuses Valve of abusing his power to keep PC games high

A new lawsuit filed by five players in federal court in California accuses Valve of abusing his power to keep PC game prices high. As reported by THR, this lawsuit claims that Valve does not maintain its dominance over the PC market by offering better prices on Steam than other platforms, but does so by abusing its power to require developers to use the so-called ‘Most Favorable’ introduce ‘nations’ clause.

“Valve Corporation’s Steam platform is the dominant platform for game developers to distribute and sell computer games in the United States,” reads the complaint, which is being handled by attorneys in Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. “But the Steam platform does not maintain its dominance through better pricing than competing platforms. Instead, Valve abuses the Steam platform’s market power by requiring game developers to enter into a ‘Most Favored Nations’ provision that ‘The Steam Distribution Agreement states that the game developers agree that the price of a computer game on the Steam platform will be the same as the game developers selling their computer games on other platforms.’

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The lawsuit also claims that because Valve requires developers to implement this ‘Most Favored Nations’ clause, it ‘hinders innovation by creating an artificial barrier to access to platforms’ and that it prices on other digital store windows such as the Epic Games Store and Microsoft hold high. Save.

“The Steam MFN is also hampering innovation by creating an artificial barrier to access to platforms,” ​​the complaint adds. “If a market like this is highly concentrated, a new entrant can benefit consumers by interrupting the prices of the incumbent. The ability to offer computer games at lower prices to consumers is one way in which a business or a new If this market is functioning properly – that is, if the Steam MFN does not exist and platforms could compete on price – platforms that could compete with Steam would offer the same (or higher) margins to game developers while being lower at the same time. prices to consumers. “

CD Project SA, CD Project, Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment SA, Ubisoft, Inc., Ubisoft LA, Inc., kHamp Games, Inc., Rust, LLC, and Devolver Digital, Inc. are also included as defendants in the lawsuit, with the plaintiffs accusing these companies of agreeing to the Steam platform for the Steam MFN.

This new lawsuit follows Valve, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax who were fined $ 9.4 million by the European Commission for their practice of ‘geo-blocking’.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.