Valve PC games were recently fined 7.8 million euros by the EU’s digital marketporter. Valve is one of the five major PC game publishers that were fined. Valve owns the Steam storefront. The fines are intended to encourage game developers and publishers to comply with EU gaming laws.
Valve fined with five PC game publishers
The European Commission has fined Valve with five other PC game publishers for geo-blocking. Geo-blocking is a practice of limiting the sales of PC games to users in certain countries, such as Germany. The fines are in response to Valve’s failure to cooperate with the European Commission and to remove such restrictions from the games they sell.
According to the fines, Valve and the five other PC game publishers were fined over EUR1.6 million each for violating antitrust rules. But the fines were reduced for publishers that cooperated with the Commission. Valve says it disagrees with the Commission’s findings and is appealing the fine.
The fines stem from Valve’s refusal to comply with the EU’s antitrust rules, which prohibit companies from dividing the European market by preventing consumers from activating games outside of their home countries. Valve is the maker of the popular Half-Life game series, which is the most popular PC game in the world. It also owns Steam, the world’s largest online PC gaming platform. Publishers use Steam to sell PC games to players.
The fines are significant because Valve violated EU competition laws when geo-blocking around 100 PC games. Valve agreed to bilateral deals with the five publishers, but the geo-blocking practices prevented consumers from activating these games outside of their home countries. The fines also rob consumers of the benefits of the EU Digital Single Market, which allows consumers to shop around and find the best prices.
Valve has paid nearly $9 million in fines to five PC game publishers, including Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media, and ZeniMax. Valve was initially fined more than six million euros, but they reduced the fines and paid 1.6 million euros each.
Steam storefront is owned by Valve
Valve is a Seattle-based video game developer and publisher. The company’s most popular games include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. The company is known for modifying and developing existing games, as well as creating new series. Valve also owns the Steam software distribution platform, which is one of the most popular places to download and buy video games.
Valve’s new policy will allow anyone to upload a video game to its digital storefront. The company announced the change in a blog post. The decision comes after the company was embroiled in a controversy over a computer game that depicted a school shooting. Valve did not create the controversial game, but had planned to sell it through its online marketplace.
Steam is owned by Valve and provides an excellent platform for game developers to showcase their games and publish updates. The store also uses a secure Valve network for enhanced speed, stability, and resilience. Developers can take advantage of unique marketing opportunities through Steam, such as the ability to notify players who have added their games to their wishlist.
Steam has become the most popular digital gaming marketplace for the PC platform, and it has over 50,000 games listed on its storefront. Valve’s PC games have attracted loyal fans of AAA and indie developers alike. As of May 2015, Valve made over $1 billion on Steam sales.
Valve is expanding Steam into China. The country has the largest population on Earth, and Valve hopes to expand Steam there. The Steam storefront is available in China in an unofficial capacity, but there is a risk that Steam storefront will be blocked by government censorship agencies. This would impact the community, user profiles, and inventories on Steam.
Valve has been put under the spotlight many times over the years, including with the PC market. Some of the issues include Valve’s 30% cut, its game store exclusivity, and competition control through price points. In addition, the Humble Bundle storefront, which has a focus on charity, has been a major source of controversy in the gaming industry.
Valve has recently made changes to its Steam storefront. In an effort to make the storefront simpler and more user-friendly, the company has changed the “capsules” that represent the games on the website. In doing so, Valve hopes to reduce the number of games that appear in “capsules.” However, the titles of some games are often unclear, and the graphical asset images are distracting.
Valve’s current revenue-sharing policy disproportionately benefits big publishers, hit games, and big publishers, ignoring smaller indie shops. The 30/70 revenue split has tarnished Valve’s reputation in gaming circles because it encourages cheap knock-offs and title sales.
