Companies are found to be violating infringement legislation.
The European Commission has fined six publishing giants for geo-blocking Steam keys.
In a report on its website, the EC said it had fined Valve, as well as Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax, 7.8 million euros, after an investigation into whether they had violated European antitrust rules.
In short, the European Commission objected to the fact that publishers could set keys for Steam to activate only in certain countries. This is contrary to the concept of the European digital single market.
Of the fines, Valve was the only one that did not cooperate, with the company fined € 1,624,000. Capcom receives a 15% reduction for cooperation and fines € 396,000, while Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax Media all received a 10% reduction and paid € 340,000, € 2,888,000, € 977,000 and € 1,664,000 respectively.
“More than 50% of all Europeans play video games,” said EVP Margrethe Vestager.
‘The video game industry in Europe is flourishing and is now worth more than € 17 billion. Today’s sanctions against the “geo-blocking” practices of Valve and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that EU competition law prohibits contractually restricting cross-border sales. Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the digital market in the EU and the opportunity to search for the most suitable offer in the EU. ”
This follows the EC that investigated the case from 2017, before a preliminary investigation. In April 2019, it reported that the above companies are in violation of the antitrust legislation.