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VALVE IS DOOMED: The $900,000,000 Lawsuit - Video học tiếng Anh
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VALVE IS DOOMED: The $900,000,000 Lawsuit
VALVE IS DOOMED: The $900,000,000 Lawsuit
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Right now, you are probably part of a massive multi-billion dollar lawsuit
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against Valve… and you didn’t even know it. A UK tribunal greenlit a massive class-action
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case where millions of gamers are suing Valve, accusing the company of
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illegally overcharging players. If it succeeds, the fallout could change PC gaming… forever.
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I’m Josh, and on today’s episode of The Infographics Show, we’re
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explaining why the UK is suing Valve. So, who actually brought this case?
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The case was filed by Vicki Shotbolt on behalf of roughly 14 million UK Steam users.
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Any Valve user over 13 who made purchases between June 4th, 2018, and June 4th, 2024,
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is affected by this opt-out class-action lawsuit. That means you could be literally suing Gabe
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Newell and the Steam team right now unless you actively opt out.
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Shotbolt, by her own admission, isn’t a gamer. She’s a digital rights activist,
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and that’s the basis of her case. She alleges that UK customers have paid more than they should for
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PC games and add-ons on Steam, arguing that Valve has abused its dominant market position
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How so? Well, the lawsuit claims
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Valve charges excessive prices for games on Steam. The platform takes a commission on every sale,
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usually between 20 and 30% depending on revenue. This cost is passed on by the
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developers to users in the form of higher prices. 2 Shotbolt says this commission is excessive,
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driving up prices for gamers and inflating Valve’s profits. But the fee is only
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excessive if you’re not getting anything in return. Some PC gamers would argue,
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Steam puts that extra cash to good use. Steam isn’t a monopoly because it’s crushed
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other platforms. It dominates the competition simply because it’s the superior product. As
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Valve - and many gamers and developers - argue, these commissions fund innovative,
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useful features like the Steam Deck. The lawsuit challenges Steam’s “Price
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Parity Obligations” for developers looking to put their games on the platform.
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These rules stop developers from selling their games anywhere else unless the price
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is the same or higher. The lawsuit claims Valve secretly enforces them across all other online
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and physical stores, not just Steam Key sales. The lawsuit also claims this lets Valve maintain
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its monopoly on PC games by removing any incentive for gamers to shop around. That,
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in turn, stops rivals from developing and competing fairly with Steam.
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Thirdly, the lawsuit targets Steam’s rule that developers can’t sell add-ons or DLC
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on other platforms at a lower price or earlier than on Steam.
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The law firm leading the case, Milberg London LLP, previously filed a $6.7 billion claim
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against Sony PlayStation. They say Valve limits rivals’ ability to compete on price,
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letting Steam charge consumers higher prices. It’s their belief that the game
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and the DLC are separate products, but Steam’s restrictions force players to buy both on Steam,
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paying the high commission in the process. They say Valve has illegally tied these products
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together, limiting consumer choice in the process. 3 The average consumer doesn’t like monopolies or
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being exploited by them. Nobody wants to pay more than they should because of monopolistic policies.
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So, on the surface, the case has its merits. Shotbolt and her lawyers genuinely believe
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they’ve brought this case against Steam in the best interest of the platform’s users.
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On their website, they emphasize that the lawsuit isn’t meant to end Steam or hurt gamers. “This
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claim does not want to, and is not about, shutting down Steam or restricting gamer access to the
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platform in any way,” it states. But for gamers, this case is
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likely to make things much worse, not better. It could break a system that gamers desperately
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want to keep intact. Steam didn’t become dominant by suffocating or buying out competitors. There’s
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nothing stopping gamers from using alternative platforms. In fact, most gamers would probably
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welcome competition for Steam. But there isn’t any.
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Epic Games Store, Good Old Games (GOG), and publisher-specific launchers like EA App and
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Ubisoft Connect just can’t compete with Steam. They don’t come close.
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So, gamers have voted with their wallets and their launchers to create a monopoly out of Steam.
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Neither Steam nor anyone else forced them to. But this lawsuit intends to break the features
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that have given Steam an edge. Users don’t feel like they’re trapped under an exploitative
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monopoly. They feel like they’re getting good value for their money, even if it does cost a
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bit more to buy games than it normally would. It’s an important point, especially when you
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think about how big the payout could be if the case succeeds
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The case is demanding an estimated £656 million in compensation from Valve. Around $899 million.
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If it succeeds, each member of the class action could get a refund of
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just £22 to £44, or around $30 to $60. 4 That’s enough to pick up an extra game
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or two… maybe some DLC. But when you look at the likely fallout, it’s hardly a win.
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It’s a massive price for Steam users to pay. People are willing to pay more for a
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higher-quality product because of the benefits it offers compared
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to a cheaper option. And that’s exactly the case with Steam, compared to its competitors.
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Epic Games Store, or EGS, already proved this. They tried to undercut Steam by charging
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developers a 12% commission. That’s a 60% discount compared to Steam’s 30%. They also tried to make
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some games available at much cheaper prices. The result? Gamers hated it.
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That’s because there’s much more to Steam than just a games store.
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As Adrian Chmielarz, the lead developer of Witchfire, put it, “EGS is a shop,
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and Steam is a community…. EGS [is] not home to them,” he explained. “They don’t have written
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reviews… the forums. There’s nothing to do there but to buy… that will always lose to
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a shop that is also emotional.” Steam has years of development
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behind it. EGS has lagged in adding basic features. Gifting was only added in 2025.
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Steam’s longevity and stability gives users confidence it won’t suddenly disappear or
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revoke licenses. Epic Games Store, on the other hand, has faced criticism over account bans,
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poor support, and data privacy issues. Developers and gamers are wary of EGS’s
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use of timed exclusivity deals, where games are hosted only on EGS for a set period after release
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Witchfire started life under a one-year EGS exclusive deal. Adrian Chmielarz admits the
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deal saved his studio, taking the game from prototype to viral sensation. But
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the real benefits came after the exclusivity ended and Witchfire was released on Steam.
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Steam’s huge user base - and the trust players have in the platform - makes
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that possible. On EGS it’s almost impossible. Witchfire has already racked
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up more than 500,000 downloads, and counting. It’s one of the major issues with the lawsuit.
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It aims to make Steam's rivals more competitive. But what’s the point if they just aren’t as good?
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Then there’s the elephant in the room. 5 Steam offers a bigger library of
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games and add-ons than any of its rivals. And it’s all in one place.
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Steam offers over 100,000 titles, with over 18,800 new games added in 2024 alone. By comparison,
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EGS offers around 4,000 games - including free titles - with just 1,100 new releases
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in 2024. That’s 25 times fewer total games and 15 times fewer new ones than Steam.
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That’s Steam’s main rival. The comparison with others is
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even bigger. Ubisoft Connect only has around 100 games on offer, mostly its own products.
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This is a huge part of what makes Steam the go-to platform for gamers. And that’s exactly
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what the lawsuit threatens. Neither Valve nor Steam
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gamers are taking this lawsuit lying down. A growing number of UK gamers have contacted the
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lawyers to opt out of the lawsuit and stand with Valve. The public backlash was so intense that
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Vicki Shotbolt and her team had to dramatically tone down the messaging on their website.
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The original homepage header accused Valve of ‘rigging the PC games market’
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and deliberately ‘shutting out competition.’ That was later softened to a more neutral question:
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‘Is Steam fair?’ It’s a big step down.
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The original website also painted Valve as actively anti-competitive and deliberately using
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its position to harm rivals and consumers. It now frames Steam as a platform whose
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practices “may” violate competition law. It’s clear the tech world is shifting fast
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and we’ve covered the stories that matter, from hidden battles to major shakeups. Make
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sure to like, share and subscribe to stay on top of the full story.
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Valve tried to get the case dismissed on technicalities, but the court ruled in
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late January 2026 that the case could proceed. Valve says Shotbolt and her team didn’t show
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how its so-called Platform Parity Obligations, or PPOs, affected prices and competition. They also
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pushed back on the class definition, especially when it comes to kids. After all, kids using Steam
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can’t legally opt in or out, which makes it tricky to claim 14 million UK users are represented.
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Valve also argued that PPOs weren’t really enforced and couldn’t count as abusing a
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dominant market position under UK law. They even questioned whether Shotbolt could afford the case,
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despite her securing £18.6 million, or about $24.9 million, in litigation funding
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That’s not how the court saw it at all. The Competition Appeal Tribunal, or CAT,
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rejected Valve’s arguments. The court ruled that a revised class definition, excluding under-13s,
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solved the opt-out concerns. But more importantly, it decided the debate over the PPOs’ effects
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wasn’t something to dismiss… It was a matter for trial.
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5 So, Valve is going to court. And the result could change
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gaming as we know it… and not for the better. If Valve is forced to lower its 30% commission
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rate, it would lose a major source of revenue. They would have to find other ways to monetize
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its platform. That would mean new fees for games, such as subscriptions or higher transaction fees.
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And that commission is currently what funds the development of Steam features, customer support,
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and backend infrastructure. Lowering the commission would almost certainly lead
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to a slowdown in new features and lower the quality of the platform.
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Developers would also feel the pain, especially the little guy.
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For small and indie developers, that 30% commission isn’t just a fee. It’s
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the cost of accessing a massive suite of tools like Steamworks, Steam Cloud saves,
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and community hub. Plus, it gives them entry to Steam’s built-in audience of millions.
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If Valve's income is squeezed, look out. It might start charging developers
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separately for these services. As the barrier to entry rises, the financial
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risk for smaller studios goes up, meaning fewer experimental, niche, or indie games get made.
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Having fewer games to choose from would affect most gamers,
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even if they end up paying less for the games still being made. Eliminating a large chunk of
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Valve’s commissions would put the brakes on the company’s rollout of projects like the Steam Deck,
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which has expanded the PC gaming market. If the lawsuit succeeds, Valve would have
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to play it safe. Groundbreaking hardware or software without an immediate payoff
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could be scaled back… or even shelved. It’s hard to see how gamers benefit from this.
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6 But the thing gamers might dislike most are the challenges to Valve’s rules tying in-game
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purchases and DLC to Steam. Remove those rules, and developers could start selling DLC or running
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in-game stores on their own websites. It would be the average Steam gamers
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nightmare. A fragmented experience. Imagine not being able to carry your friends
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list and game progress between a Steam version and one you bought on EGS or GOG. You could end
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up with the base game on one platform and the DLC on another with no way to connect them.
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And there’s the rub. If Valve is forced to drop the PPO,
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publishers like EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft are likely to pull their games off Steam.
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You’d be forced to use multiple launchers, constantly jumping from one platform to another.
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All for a settlement that won’t buy you much more than a burger and fries.
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That unmatchable unified PC gaming library will die.
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What makes this whole scenario so frustrating is that the case isn’t coming from people who
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hate gaming or want to punish Steam. It’s not coming from a rival platform trying to
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grab a bigger piece of the market. It's coming from someone who you’d
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probably think was on the side of gamers. Remember we said Vicki Shotbolt is a digital
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rights activist? She’s spent years campaigning for children’s safety online. She’s also the
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founder and CEO of Parent Zone, an organization that helps families and global brands improve
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kids’ lives online. Her expertise lies in understanding how digital platforms interact
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with consumers – particularly young people – and what fair, safe engagement looks like.
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Her intentions, by and large, seem honorable. She views the gaming industry as a “vital
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part of the ecosystem” and has acknowledged that games are important for socializing and
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enjoyment. She’s even on record calling Steam “a fantastic platform from a gamer's point of view.”
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7 In her quest to save gamers from what she sees as an oppressive monopoly,
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she might end up killing the only gaming platform that actually works.
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If you’re sitting in the U.S., you may be thinking, “This is irrelevant
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to me. It’s a U.K. problem.” That would be a huge mistake.
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The ramifications of this case ripple way beyond the UK, and way beyond gaming.
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Valve has been fighting a very similar case in the U.S., which was filed in 2021 and is
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still ongoing. While U.S. and UK competition laws aren’t the same, a strong UK ruling could
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give American lawyers the power, evidence, and economic analysis they need to win their case.
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Valve would be in the crosshairs…not just in the U.S., but around the world.
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The UK is increasingly seen as “one of the most important global jurisdictions
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for competition class actions”. If Valve loses in the UK, claimants in other countries would
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be encouraged to file similar cases, heaping on the pressure. Steam would have to make the
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changes demanded by the UK worldwide just to avoid bad press and even more lawsuits.
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But the fallout from the case could also go well beyond gaming.
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The same UK court, the CAT, is processing a number of collective actions against Google.
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The Epic Games Inc. v Alphabet Inc. representing about 2,200 UK app developers, and the Elizabeth
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Coll collective action have been combined into a single trial, set for September 2026
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This case, and Valve’s, follows hot on the heels of a landmark judgement made
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by CAT in October 2025 against Apple. This is a crucial development with regards the Valve case,
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because it won on many of the same arguments being made against Valve.
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So, the legal framework for a case against Valve has now been set.
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If the case against Valve is successful, Google’s defense will also be in serious
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trouble. And the same applies to every digital platform in any industry operating
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behind a “walled garden”-type business model. 8 The Apple judgment sent a clear message that
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major platforms can’t use security, quality control, or user experience
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as excuses for unfair rules or high fees. Even if players don’t mind or even like it.
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And when it came to that controversial 30% commission, the UK tribunal ruled it
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was unlawfully excessive and unfair. It’s a massive legal precedent that
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threatens Steam's identical 30% cut Of course, Google and Apple are both
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bona fide monopolies that regularly use their size and power to their advantage,
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often at the expense of their users. Steam isn’t.
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Like the Google and Apple cases, the Valve lawsuit is about what counts as monopolistic
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behavior. But this time, it’s being brought on behalf of gamers. Even though many of them don’t
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actually mind Valve’s practices. Millions of gamers are in the
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dark about this. But you do. What happens next could send
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shockwaves through the entire gaming industry. It’s not just tech giants under the microscope,
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game development is feeling it too. Watch ‘Why GTA 6 Is Taking FOREVER To Make (Grand Theft Auto VI)’
15:24
to see why Rockstar is under so much pressure to deliver. Or click on this video instead.
