Yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment was getting a class-action lawsuit due to its PlayStation Store exclusivity. This time around, it is Valve’s turn to get the heat with its allegations of Steam monopoly.
The ongoing Epic Games v Apple trial has uncovered tons of secrets in the gaming industry and in the center of that storm is antitrust violations. The antitrust laws are in place so that consumers will be protected from companies owning a monopoly over their given market and also against predatory financial practices. SIE was sued due to its allegations of PSN Store exclusivity while Valve is now getting the flak for doing the same with Steam.
Media outlet Ars Technica shared a statement from Indie Game Developer and Humble Bundle Creator Wolfire Games. “Valve abuses its market power to ensure game publishers have no choice but to sell most of their games through the Steam Store, where they are subject to Valve’s 30 percent toll.”
The new lawsuit pushed by Wolfire Games states that Valve actually controls 75 percent of the PC gaming market, which was proven during the Epic Games v Apple trial, which the latter revealed they had reduced sales cut on its own storefront just in order to make Valve do the same. Microsoft also did the same as well for their PC gaming market, which put more pressure on Valve again.
Just like what Sony Interactive Entertainment is doing, it is up to Valve to meet this lawsuit head on or just ignore it like the rest of the lawsuits pending on court. Some fear that it would be the latter.
Source: Ars Technica via GameInformer