EU fines Valve and other game companies in the millions
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The EU Commission has imposed a cartel fine on Steam operator Valve and five other game publishers. The gaming companies have to pay a total of 7.8 million euros.
The EU Commission has sentenced Valve, the operator of the game distribution platform Steam, to pay a fine of 1.6 million euros. The reason: Valve had given video game publishers the opportunity to link activation keys for games to individual countries. An activation key bought in the Czech Republic for a game download therefore did not work in Germany. According to the EU Commission, however, these geoblocking measures violate European antitrust law.
In addition to platform operator Valve, fines were also imposed on five games publishers. They are said to have asked Valve to provide the activation key for individual game titles with the geoblocking function. A total of around 100 video games are said to have been affected by the measures. The game publishers Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and Zenimax must therefore now pay fines of between 340,000 and more than 2.8 million euros to the EU.
This graphic from the EU Commission is intended to illustrate why a cartel penalty was imposed on Valve and the five game publishers. (Graphic: EU Commission)
As a reward for their cooperation with the EU Commission, all five publishers received a discount of 10 to 15 percent when setting the fines. According to the Commission, however, the Valve management has not shown itself to be cooperative, which is why the fine against the company was calculated according to the standard rate.
Geo-blocking penalty: Valve refuses an admission of guilt
A Valve spokesman denied Techcrunch the accusation that one did not cooperate with the EU competition watchdogs. “During the seven-year investigation, Valve worked extensively with the European Commission and provided evidence and information as requested. However, Valve has refused to admit a breach of the law, as requested by the EU Commission, ”said a statement.
Meanwhile, EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager explains: “The fines imposed today for geo-blocking practices by Valve and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that EU competition law prohibits companies from contracting cross-border sales to restrict. “
According to Valve, the geo-blocking practice related to Steam activation keys was discontinued in 2015. Since then, the only exception has been legal reasons. For example, to prevent the sale of games that are prohibited in Germany.
Also interesting: Best of Steam: These games were the most successful in 2020
