Valve Reportedly Warned Against Lower Prices for Games Like Rainbow Six Siege and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War on Competing Platforms
For the past five years, Valve has been embroiled in a class action lawsuit where several developers claim the company is operating as a monopoly, leveraging its dominance in the gaming industry to stifle competition and impose high fees on developers using its platform. The plaintiffs argue that Valve penalizes developers who offer their games at lower prices on competing storefronts, as indicated in court documents.
This lawsuit, which has been active since 2021 in the U.S., was initially filed by David Rosen, co-founder of Humble Bundle and Wolfire Games, and has since been joined by other developers through amended complaints. The current allegations assert that Valve holds an “unlawful monopoly” that allows it to capture an “excessive share” of the PC gaming market’s growth, leaving publishers with little choice but to utilize its store and enabling Valve to charge a “supracompetitive” 30% commission on sales. The complaint highlights Valve’s “Platform Most Favored Nation” clause, which allegedly prevents developers and publishers from offering their games at lower prices or with better features on other platforms. A related case is also ongoing in the UK.
Documents reviewed during the lawsuit reveal various instances where Valve is accused of enforcing this clause. Notably, Rosen recounted in a blog post that when he inquired about selling one of his games at a discount on Humble Bundle, Valve reportedly warned him that the game would be removed from Steam. Additional evidence includes emails where Valve employees threatened to delist titles like Rainbow Six Siege and Middle-earth: Shadow of War if their publishers pursued discounts or better deals elsewhere, with one employee allegedly stating, “Steam’s policy has always been to require material parity for things we sell on the Steam Store.”
Despite these allegations, both Valve and its co-founder Gabe Newell have strongly denied the existence of such a rule. A business development employee testified that Steam doesn’t really have formal “policies,” reflecting Valve’s famously loose corporate structure. When confronted with her own email, she claimed not to remember making the quoted statement. Throughout the trial, numerous emails from Valve staff referencing similar rules have emerged, including an internal message where a staffer joked about getting the policy language “tattooed on my back like it’s the Declaration of Independence.”
Interestingly, Epic Games has not commented on the situation and is not part of the lawsuit against Valve, even though it has its own legal battles against Apple and Google over similar competitive issues. Epic has been mentioned in discussions about its challenges in competing with Steam. Following the recent report, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney took to social media to address the situation, questioning whether this represents the “fair competition” that has been discussed in recent articles. He pointed out that if a dominant store can pressure developers into not passing savings to customers on competing platforms, true competition is at risk.
If Valve loses its case in the UK, it could face penalties of up to $900 million, which would be distributed to class action members, including UK players who have purchased games on Steam and other platforms. In the U.S., the lawsuit seeks to halt Valve’s “abusive, unlawful, and anticompetitive practices,” including its 30% cut and the alleged Platform Most Favored Nation policy, along with unspecified monetary restitution for class members. Recent updates in the case have focused on concerns over confidentiality and document sealing, indicating that any resolution regarding Valve and Steam may still be a long way off.
