Counter Strike developers Valve is being sued for over $800 million

Valve, the developers of two popular Esports titles Counter-Strike and Dota 2 and owner of the largest Digital video game marketplace, Steam, are now being sued for £656 million or around $843 million claiming that the company has been exploiting over 14 million PC gamers by shutting out competition.

The lawsuit is filed by Vicki Shotbolt from Milberg London at the Competition Appeal Tribunal claiming that the company has been overcharging its users and the publishers. “We believe Valve Corporation has been unfairly shutting out competition for PC games and in-game content, which has meant that UK customers have paid too much for these products,” Shotbolt said.

As per Shotbolt, Valve’s 30% commission rate for game publishers on the sale of a game is excessive and is pushing the cost burden on the consumers of UK for the last six years. Shotbolt aims to stop this unlawful conduct and help people get back what they are owed, as per BBC.

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Not the first rodeo for Valve

This is not the first time Valve have been accused of abusing the video games market due to its “monopoly” in the PC gaming space and various other issues relating to its refund policies which have changed a lot over time with gamers seemingly fine with the current refund policy.

The 30% commission for game sales is quite high compared to the Epic Games Store and Microsoft which only charge 12%. However, this does not currently seem to be the case as to why gamers are being overcharged in any country.

Large video game firms like Microsoft, Capcom and many others suggested regional pricing which they generally ignore. Furthermore, even when these companies release the same game on their own platform and launchers, the prices remain the same as on Steam, making the gamers pay the same amount regardless of which platform they choose to buy.

This leads to the monopoly issue. Since gamers have to pay the same price everywhere, they would rather have all their games in a single platform rather than have to open multiple launchers. Valve does not force anyone to release the games exclusively on their platform, as companies are free to release the games where they want.