Valve Faces Near Billion-Dollar Lawsuit Over UK Antitrust Allegations
Parent Zone is deeply concerned about the 14 million British gamers who are forced to pay "excessive" Steam commissions out of their own pockets.
The London Competition Appeal Tribunal has ruled that Valve must answer in court to a case worth £656 million ($897.7 million). The plaintiffs believe that the owner of Steam charges an "excessive" 30% commission on every transaction on the platform.
The lawsuit was initiated in 2024 by Vicki Shotbolt, CEO of Parent Zone. According to her, Valve "manipulates the market and takes advantage of British gamers", and the purpose of the trial is to stop "illegal practices" and return money to users who, it is claimed, were unfairly charged.
Ms. Shotbolt represents the interests of approximately 14 million players from the UK. The documents allege that Steam's 30 percent commission is unfair and passed on to ordinary customers. Separately mentioned are measures that keep users within the Steam ecosystem. An example is the rule that DLC and additional content for games purchased on Steam must also be purchased from this store.
Similar accusations against Valve are not new. Back in 2021, Wolfire Games and Dark Catt Studios filed similar lawsuits, criticizing Valve's 30% commission and Sony's similar policy in the PlayStation Store. The Wolfire lawsuit was eventually dismissed, and some of Dark Catt Studios' claims were also dropped. Later, Wolfire reworked the argumentation and refiled the lawsuit, and in 2022 both cases were combined. In November 2024, the combined process was granted class action status.
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