Valve Antitrust Class-Action Lawsuit Allowed to Proceed

A federal judge in Seattle has recently ruled that the antitrust class-action lawsuit brought against Valve by Wolfire Games over their Steam Key Price Parity Provision can proceed. The Key Price Parity Provision is a policy that prohibits game developers from pricing their games cheaper on competing storefronts such as the Epic Games Store even if they offer lower fees. The judge noted that Valve “relies on provisions within Steamworks Documentation to impose conditions on how non-Steam-enabled games are sold and priced.” and that “Valve also threatens game publishers with punitive action, including removal of their Steam-enabled games, if they sell non-Steam-enabled versions of those games at lower prices,”. The ruling states that allegations of the company exploiting it’s market dominance to threaten and retaliate against developers were “sufficient to plausibly allege unlawful conduct”. This decision will allow for a class-action lawsuit to be brought against Valve.