Valve has once again been at the center of competition discussions due to its pricing policies on Steam. While the company’s founder, Gabe Newell, argued that Steam did not pressure developers to apply the same price in different stores, some e-mails reflected in the case files brought forward claims to the contrary. According to the information revealed, Valve employees have worked with Ubisoft and Warner Bros. in the past.
He contacted major publishers such as due to price differences. The most striking claim came to the fore regarding Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. It was claimed that Valve announced that the game could be removed from Steam after Ubisoft offered a cheaper starter pack on its own store Uplay. Steam price policy is discussed in the case files. Valve has been facing antitrust lawsuits filed in the USA and the UK for a long time.
In these cases, it is claimed that the company uses its strong position in the PC game market to force developers to accept high commission rates, and that this is indirectly reflected in the form of higher prices to players. In the case filed by Wolffire Games, Steam’s commission structure of up to 30 percent and allegations of price equality come to the fore. Plaintiffs argue that developers have difficulty offering lower prices on stores other than Steam, even though rival platforms such as the Epic Games Store receive lower commissions.
Valve denies these allegations. In his statement to lawyers in 2023, Gabe Newell said that the company did not force developers to apply the same price on Steam and other stores. The Rainbow Six Siege claim attracted attention. According to the emails brought up during the case process, Valve reacted to Ubisoft offering a cheaper $15 Rainbow Six Siege starter pack on Uplay. Allegedly, Valve employees stated that the game could be removed from Steam if the price difference is not corrected.
This situation strengthened the discussions that the applications on the platform operate differently, although Valve officially said that it does not impose prices. A similar claim was made by Warner Bros. It was also brought up on the side. In 2017, it was claimed that Steam pre-orders were removed due to lower prices offered for Middle-earth: Shadow of War in other stores. What does Valve say? The Valve front argues that Steam does not put direct price-setting pressure on developers.
Newell stated that players have many options to purchase games and cited Xbox, Epic Games Store and developers’ own stores as examples. However, Kassidy Gerber, one of the Valve employees mentioned in the case files, is reported to have accepted that Steam implements “content equality” conditions. This statement shows that the boundary between price equality and content equality will become an important topic of discussion in competition cases.
Why is Steam so strong? Steam has long been the most dominant digital store in the PC gaming market. Although large companies such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Amazon and Microsoft tried to highlight their own stores, it was not easy to shift user habits away from Steam. Even the Call of Duty series returned to Steam after focusing on Battle.net for a while. Not only game sales but also platform features were effective in Steam’s position: Large game library, frequent discount periods, user reviews, workshop support, achievements, friends list, cloud saves and community features made Steam the default PC gaming platform for many players.
Rival stores, on the other hand, were criticized for falling behind Steam in terms of basic user experience, despite making significant investments over the years. For example, it took years for Epic Games Store to add a simple feature such as a shopping cart. Developers see Steam as a monopoly. A recent survey stated that 72 percent of developers see Steam as a monopoly. This rate shows that the discomfort towards Valve’s market power is growing within the industry.
Still, there are games that have achieved great success outside of Steam. Productions such as League of Legends, Roblox, Minecraft and Genshin Impact were able to reach large player bases without the need for Steam. However, these examples generally consist of games that already have great brand power. For medium and small-sized developers, Steam is still seen as a critical platform for access. The risk for Valve is growing.
A separate class action lawsuit filed in the UK claims that Valve’s commission structure is reflected in higher prices for players. It is stated that if the company loses this case, it may face the risk of compensation approaching approximately 1 billion dollars. The case in the USA focuses on the question of whether Steam is just a powerful store or whether it uses its position in the PC game market to limit competition.
The emails revealed during the litigation process seem to further expand the debate on whether there is a difference between Valve’s official statements and its in-house applications. Steam price policy may affect the gaming market. How Valve exits the litigation process may affect not only Steam but the entire PC gaming market. If the courts conclude that Steam’s pricing or content policies limit competition, commission rates, discount strategies and developer agreements in digital game stores may be reshaped.
For now, Valve argues that players have many alternatives and that Steam’s success comes from providing a better service, not from hindering competition. However, the emails included in the case files will cause Steam’s behind-the-scenes publisher relations to be questioned more in the coming period.
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