Steam, in the form of Epic’s very transparent year in review blog post. So… shrug emoji? How Epic Games Store is going…Īs it happens, we have a great opportunity to look at Epic Games Store’s progress vs. Which is a very logical, Valve-like take on things, even if I don’t agree. And that November 2018 change for big games was explained as ‘the network effect of big games benefits all, so big games should be financially compensated’. But that’s a philosophical company decision. Otherwise - sure, I’d love Steam to invert its platform cost structure and offer 20% cut to devs who make under $1 million, as opposed to over $50 million. I guess we’ll see, though I presume the bar to actually win this type of lawsuit is very high. Most aren’t going to mess with pricing.)īut some of the subtleties - like the difference between copies of games and Steam keys of games - might be complex enough for your average judge to not get this suit immediately thrown out.
LAST MAN SITTING GAME STEAM PC
And some of the arguments just seem way off: “Without the Steam MFN, it would be in game developers’ independent economic interest to offer their PC games at lower prices on platforms that charge a lower commission than the Steam platform.” Really? (I think devs would just get a lower ‘platform tax’ and be happy with that. So I don’t think this suit is going anywhere. And there’s certainly no hardware lock-in or forced lack of store choice, like Apple’s current situation. People are used to using the service, they like it, they have a lot of games stored there, and so they keep using it. )īut much of the pseudo-monopoly effect of Steam - and also don’t forget that being a monopoly in itself isn’t explicitly illegal - is a ‘soft’ monopoly. launching former Epic Games Store exclusives cheaper on Steam, for example Journey To The Savage Planet, which just launched on Steam at 40% off. (Hilariously, I’ve seen people doing the opposite, i.e. Of course, there might be some soft or implied pressure to not put your game out at a fraction of your Steam price elsewhere. The lawyers try to claim PC, console and mobile are noncomparable, btw.) (One obvious example of different prices elsewhere is Slay The Spire, which just launched on iOS for $10, but is still $25 on Steam. But there’s no explicit rule that the game has to be the same price everywhere - which would be a significant step towards ‘price fixing’. So you can’t sell Steam keys for less elsewhere, such as on your own website. The argument that Steam legally doesn’t allow devs to price their games lower on other platforms is taken from a Twitter comment by Epic’s Tim Sweeney made in 2019, and it’s not accurate: These include Ubisoft and CD Projekt, but also Devolver, Rust, LLC (maker of standout VR game Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades ) and KChamp (creator of multiplayer 2D tank battle game ShellShock Live, which I hadn’t been paying attention to, but has casually racked up 20,000 reviews!) Hope Valve can help with any legal costs here.Īnyhow, Pavel ‘xPaw’ Djundik of SteamDB, who I think was the video game-related person to first spot the lawsuit, correctly points out what seems to be a significant hole in the suit. Unfortunately, the lawsuit also names some specific - fairly random - developers and publishers, since they needed ‘sample games’ to bring the suit against.
LAST MAN SITTING GAME STEAM FULL
The essence of the suit, which you can read in full here (PDF link)? Quoting: “Valve abuses the Steam platform’s market power by requiring game developers to enter into a 'Most Favored Nations' provision contained in the Steam Distribution Agreement whereby the game developers agree that the price of a PC game on the Steam platform will be the same price the game developers sell their PC games on other platforms." ‘Valve Corporation’s Steam platform is the dominant platform for game developers to distribute and sell PC games in the United States,’ states the complaint being handled by attorneys at Vorys Sater.” Valve is specifically being accused of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, legal history fans! (I’ve chosen these gentlemen traveling to a 1930s naval treaty meeting as a proxy image for a sinister cabal, even though I’m sure they were perfectly legitimate.)Īs the Hollywood Reporter notes: “On Thursday, five gamers filed a putative class action in California federal court against Valve Corporation. or so says a new lawsuit filed Thursday, as written up by The Hollywood Reporter.
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