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Valve and five publishers fined €7.8 million for geo-blocking Steam keysValve have to pay a hearty €1.6m share of that sum
Valve have to pay a hearty €1.6m share of that sum
Update 21/01/2021:Valve have responded to the European Commission’s claims, saying they disagree with the Commission’s findings and the fine they’ve been issued. Read their full statement below. Original story from 20/01/2021.
Valve and a handful of game publishers have landed themselves in hot water with the European Commision for geo-blocking Steam keys in certain regions in Europe. The Steam owners, along with Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent company), have been collectively fined €7.8 million (around £6.9 million) for “breaching EU antitrust rules”.
“Valve and the publishers restricted cross-border sales of certain PC video games on the basis of the geographical location of users within the European Economic Area (‘EEA'), entering into the so called ‘geo-blocking’ practices,“the European Commission said.
An investigation into Valve and the five publishers found that between 2010 and 2015 they had agreements to geo-block certain Steam keys, preventing them from being activated outside of Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Valve didn’t cooperate with the investigations, and have been fined €1,624,000 (around £1.4 million). The publishers did cooperate however, and had their fines slightly reduced. Even still,SnowRunnerandGreedfallpublisher Focus Home managed to rack up a fine of €2,888,000 (about £2.6 million).
A breakdown of the fines.
“Today’s sanctions against the ‘geo-blocking’ practices of Valve and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that under EU competition law, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting cross-border sales,” the Commission’s executive vice-president, Margrethe Vestage, said.
“Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU Digital Single Market and of the opportunity to shop around for the most suitable offer in the EU.”
This is naughty because the European Union’s Digital Single Market is designed so that everyone who lives in the EU should be able to buy and use things from all other EU countries.
Update: Last night, Valve issued a statement toEurogamerclaiming that they did cooperate with the investigation, and disagree with the fine they’ve been given:
“During the seven year investigation, Valve cooperated extensively with the European Commission (“EC”), providing evidence and information as requested. However, Valve declined to admit that it broke the law, as the EC demanded. Valve disagrees with the EC findings and the fine levied against Valve.
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