Nothing like a legal drama. Today, we investigate the story behind Valve's recent change to the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The story goes far deeper than I thought.
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► Read the latest Loading Screen: https://bellular.games/valve-retroactively-protect-themselves-from-lawsuits/
https://bellular.games/loading-screen-blizzards-secrets-spilled-out/
Sources:
https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/4696781406111167991
https://web.archive.org/web/20240925000911/https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/#11
https://www.masonllp.com/case/valve-mass-arbitration/
https://bellular.games/ls-valve-really-are-that-successful/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/washington/wawdce/2:2023cv01819/328826/28/
https://www.404media.co/steam-removes-forced-arbitration-clause-gamers-can-now-sue-valve/
A Judge Says No 00:00
What Valve Did 01:38
The Reason Why 04:23
”Our Arrows Will Blot Out The Sun” 07:25
Valve’s Riposte 09:30
Correction: I misspoke, saying October instead of August. (00:03)
Is the point not that they have a near monopoly in
the modern PC gaming space?
It’s virtually a requirement for developers who release games on PC to release their game on Steam. From what I recall, developers must also follow requirements set out by Valve regarding what they are allowed to price their game on other platforms.
How is it “virtually a requirement”? Nothing is stopping any devs from selling their games elsewhere, but most of them see the advantages that steam brings to the consumers and don’t bother trying to compete. If steam was buying up publishers and forcing exclusivity then that would absolutely be monopolistic behavior, but they are just beating the competition by being better.
Most times, they are the only distributor of a certain game. For example, where the fuck can i purchase Barotrauma besides Steam?
Yup, why do the dev work for other stores when steam accounts for 99% of sales.
Yay, Monopoly!
What monopoly? Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and Epic all make money hand over fist selling videogames.
Most have tried make their own launchers/markets and failed since they are too greedy to build up trust.
I love buying Nintendo games for my PC
Yeah that’s totally valve’s fault that Nintendo does not sell on pc
Is the point not that they have a near monopoly in the modern PC gaming space?
It’s virtually a requirement for developers who release games on PC to release their game on Steam. From what I recall, developers must also follow requirements set out by Valve regarding what they are allowed to price their game on other platforms.
How is it “virtually a requirement”? Nothing is stopping any devs from selling their games elsewhere, but most of them see the advantages that steam brings to the consumers and don’t bother trying to compete. If steam was buying up publishers and forcing exclusivity then that would absolutely be monopolistic behavior, but they are just beating the competition by being better.