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$843 million lawsuit against Valve already has its own website: "The Steam Claim" accuses the biggest store in PC gaming of "overcharging" players (www.gamesradar.com)

submitted 5 months ago by Dadifer@lemmy.world to c/pcgaming@lemmy.world

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[+] Badeendje@lemmy.world -7 points 5 months ago (3 children)

If there is nothing wrong then the investigation will show this. But the claims argue that they use their undisputed market dominance (your words) to do stuff that is anti competitive.

The fact there are alternatives does not matter if the dominant player abuses their position to stiffle competition.

A prosecutor has to make their case, Valve gets to rebuke the claims.

I'd say, welcome investigation into large corporations. There should be more. The fact that mega corps like the Petro industry where and still are not properly monitored is bad for everyone. A corporation is not a human being, and it's feelings cannot be hurt, but it can do a lot of bad things.

If it turns out there is Merrit to the claims, it is good for everyone. Why the urge to defend a multi billion dollar company? I'm not saying everyone should dust off the pitchforks either. Let the law do its thing.

[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Interestingly enough GOG takes 30% and has had periods they struggled.

The storefront saw a slight increase in revenue but a net loss of around $1.14 million in the last financial quarter. Overall, it’s lost about $2.21 million over the past three quarters compared to a $1.37 million profit over the same period in 2020. CD Projekt didn’t immediately reply to questions about how its new strategy might translate into changes to GOG’s features or catalog.

One staff member tied the earlier layoffs to increased competition in PC gaming storefronts, which has driven major platforms to lower the commission they take from developers.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/29/22808199/cd-projekt-gog-losses-restructuring-earnings-2021

Funny thing is lower cut is likely to benefit steam more by killing off the competition for good with the economies of scale they have on their side compared to competitors which themselves are running at a loss and not clear if the cut is sustainable in the long run to justify running.

[–] Badeendje@lemmy.world -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Everyone is very focussed on the 30pct. But there are multiple points in the claim. Price clauses and such.

[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Used /r/gamedeals and isthereanydeals a long time so not even sure how effective the price clauses are when I've gotten so many deals for games on my preferred platform for a lower price.

[–] Badeendje@lemmy.world -1 points 5 months ago

Me2.. I mostly buy outside steam. But that is not the issue at hand. If a dominant company is thought to abuse their position, it should be investigated.

And over the last years several indie devs have said there are some narly contract clauses.

[–] CEbbinghaus@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Do to stuff that is anti competitive (your words)? What the fuck? Pleas point out the "stuff" that they are doing because this article is accusing them of charging too high a cut on game revenue. Which is NOT the case. Anyone that has half a braincell can do a Google search and see that their cut is perfectly inline with Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo. They are NOT abusing they market dominance since this same hcut has been in place for basically forever. Someone looked at the 30% and just now said "hey that sounds kinda high" when it has been the norm for decades.

Also please for the love of God do some research. This has already been battled in court and the case got dropped because of fucking course steam isn't being anti competitive. A godamm legal company thought they could make some money if they got a ton of people to sign up to a class action and somehow manage to convince the judge with numbers. But it's utterly bullshit and beating a gift horse around the head. Steam let's you sell their steamkeys on your website which they make 0 cut on. And all they ask is that you sell it at the same price as on steam? I don't think anyone realized how good of a deal that is please for the love of God look at any other game platform and if you can so much as find a clause that lets you sell their keys on any other platform I will be VERY impressed.

TLDR: Stuff is not exact enough of a reason to hate on steam

[–] Audacious@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Steam will not be better than it is now. I have been using it for years and not much has changed. There is no reason for it to improve for the consumers when it's the top dog.

[–] Badeendje@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

For sure there is something to be said for not "moving fast and breaking stuff"

I think the incremental improvements have been good on steam. They move slow, but there is development. I especially liked when they added the additional user tags.

That said, if Valve does indeed use their dominance to stiffle competition it needs to stop, regardless of the other things.