The £656 million lawsuit was filed against the company behind Steam because its 30% profit margin is considered too high.

Last month, a British judge ruled that Valve must stand trial in a £656 million class action lawsuit filed by Parent Zone CEO Vicki Shotbolt over the 30% commission the company takes from all transactions conducted on Steam. The case mirrors Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple, as Shotbolt also considers Valve’s 30% cut excessive and believes the company manipulates the market and exploits UK gamers.

Speaking to Gamesindustry, Shotbolt expanded on the lawsuit against Valve and Steam, stating that Valve is clearly not operating fairly in the video game market. She hopes a win would lead to a more balanced industry for developers and players worldwide, while acknowledging that outcomes such as developers lowering prices because Steam no longer takes such a large cut are not guaranteed.

“It’s about how we use digital technology positively and how we unlock, enjoy, and embrace opportunity. Games are a vital part of that ecosystem. It’s an important industry. It matters to young people who enjoy and play games. It matters to adults who spend a lot of time socializing and playing games as well. Gaming is a very important sector, so it needs to operate fairly and not overcharge. Steam is a major platform in a major ecosystem – it needs to cooperate fairly, but it clearly does not. That is beyond my control. You can take a stand and say developers should not be charged 30% – it’s too high and unreasonable. What we hope will happen is that some developers lower their prices and pass that on to consumers.

I believe that will happen because that’s how markets work. But it can only happen if the price parity obligation is also removed. Of course, developers could band together and earn higher profits from their games. But hopefully the market would respond by saying it’s now in my interest to lower prices and pass that on to customers. If you want to develop for PC, you want to be on Steam. It’s not like developers have ten options. That’s why I think this case is so important, because Steam has dominated the market for a long time, and it shouldn’t exploit that,” Shotbolt said.

We can hope prices will fall, but first Shotbolt must win the lawsuit. Lower prices are not the only outcome she hopes for if she succeeds. The apparent end goal is to ensure that Valve no longer dominates the market and that developers have more than one viable option for selling their games.

Forrás: WCCFTech, Gamesindustry