Valve slammed with fine for geo-blocking Steam titles

Hanno Labuschagne

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Valve slammed with fine for geo-blocking Steam title

The European Commission has fined Valve and several video game publishers with a presence on its Steam store for geo-blocking titles on the continent, according to a report from Engadget.

The punishment comes two years after charges were filed against Valve, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, KochMedia, and ZeniMax for breaching the EU’s competition laws blocking companies from restricting cross-border sales.

According to the EU, there were various bilateral agreements and “concerted practices” between Valve and each of the publishers which resulted in the geo-blocking of Steam game activation keys between September 2010 and October 2015.
 
Looking at the press release:
  • Bilateral agreements and/or concerted practices between Valve and each of the five PC video game publisher implemented by means of geo-blocked Steam activation keys which prevented the activation of certain of these publishers' PC video games outside Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in response to unsolicited consumer requests (so-called “passive sales”). These lasted between one and five years and were implemented, depending on the cases, between September 2010 and October 2015.
  • Geo-blocking practices in the form of licensing and distribution agreements concluded bilaterally between four out of the five PC video game publishers (i.e. Bandai, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax) and some of their respective PC video games distributors in the EEA (other than Valve), containing clauses which restricted cross-border (passive) sales of the affected PC video games within the EEA, including the above-mentioned Central and Eastern European countries. These lasted generally longer, i.e. between three and 11 years and were implemented, depending on each bilateral relationship, between March 2007 and November 2018.

I only see Poland having their own designated currency on Steam, and I guess the rest are prescribed to the Euro?

I know what is happening here, but Valve did update this scheme back then and obviously they didn't cooperate as usual with the authorities. I believe this is already remedied, and Valve is now also geo-regulating current Steam accounts to prevent users changing their location and currency without a valid reason. There is a reason why there are so many new Steam accounts, and it is not only due to F2P titles en massed on Steam.

Bandai Namco - 340 000 EUR
Capcom - 396 000 EUR
Focus Home - 2 888 000 EUR
Koch Media - 977 000 EUR
ZeniMax - 1 664 000 EUR

Steam - 1 624 000 EUR

I am curious as to why Focus Home was hit so hard.
 
Going to suck for the people in the non-Euro zone nations soon. They are going to have to say goodbye to regional pricing
 
Steam can go burn in hell simply because of how the whole Half Life thing was handled.
 
Looking at the press release:


I only see Poland having their own designated currency on Steam, and I guess the rest are prescribed to the Euro?

I know what is happening here, but Valve did update this scheme back then and obviously they didn't cooperate as usual with the authorities. I believe this is already remedied, and Valve is now also geo-regulating current Steam accounts to prevent users changing their location and currency without a valid reason. There is a reason why there are so many new Steam accounts, and it is not only due to F2P titles en massed on Steam.

Bandai Namco - 340 000 EUR
Capcom - 396 000 EUR
Focus Home - 2 888 000 EUR
Koch Media - 977 000 EUR
ZeniMax - 1 664 000 EUR

Steam - 1 624 000 EUR

I am curious as to why Focus Home was hit so hard.

Poland is part of the EU. So, it should be using the Euro.
 
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