EU hits game distributor Valve, five others with 7.8 million euro fine
Sports is where the numbers are and fans denied real games are turning to live streaming, watching people play games, and taking part in those video games themselves. PHOTO: AFP
US distributor Valve Corp, owner of the world’s largest video game distribution platform Steam, and 5 video game publishers received a 7.8-million-euro EU antitrust fine on Wednesday for blocking cross-border sales in Europe.
The penalty followed a four-year investigation, as part of the European Commission’s crackdown on cross-border curbs on online trade in the bloc.
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Valve did not admit wrongdoing and was fined 1.66 million euros. Fines for the five video game publishers - Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media, part of Embracer Group AB, and ZeniMax - were reduced by 10%-15% after they admitted wrongdoing.
The Commission, the EU executive, said the companies’ practices prevented European consumers from shopping around in a European market worth more than 17 billion euros.
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“Today’s sanctions against the ‘geo-blocking’ practices of Valve and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that under EU competition law, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting cross-border sales,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
The EU competition enforcer said Valve and each publisher bilaterally agreed to geo-block certain PC video games from outside a specific territory, affecting some 100 video games.