Valve faces £656M claim

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Coming up:

• 🎮 Valve faces £656M claim
• 🏦 JP Morgan didn't lowball
• ⛏️ Big Mine Money

Dirty Pricing

Valve, the big boss behind gaming platform Steam, is getting slapped with a £656 million class action lawsuit for allegedly overcharging 14 million UK gamers by playing dirty in the pricing game.

How did this happen? Vicki Shotbolt, a digital rights campaigner, decided enough was enough and took Valve to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She claims that Valve has been flexing its muscles in the PC gaming market, forcing game publishers into "price parity" deals.

• Translation? Games can't be sold cheaper anywhere else but Steam. This sneaky move, she argues, lets Valve charge a whopping commission of up to 30%, making games more expensive for us all.

Been here, done that. This isn’t the first time Valve's been in hot water – they got hit with a €1.6 million fine in 2021 for "geo-blocking" gamers in Europe, stopping them from getting cheaper games based on their location.

Which law firms are advising on this?