Valve is heading for a nasty day out in a UK courtroom as London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled a £656m (€756.2m) lawsuit can continue, after Valve argued it should not be certified to proceed towards trial.
The claim was filed in 2024 on behalf of up to 14 million people in the UK who bought games or extra content through Steam or other platforms since 2018.
Lawyers for children’s welfare advocate Vicki Shotbolt allege Valve blocks publishers from selling games more cheaply or earlier on rival stores by imposing conditions tied to Steam.
They say Valve forces users to buy all additional content through Steam if they bought the base game there, effectively “locking in” users to make purchases on its platform, Shotbolt’s lawyers said.
That lets Valve charge “unfair and excessive” commissions of up to 30 per cent.
The case joins other big UK claims circling store commissions, including actions against Apple over the App Store and Google over the Play Store, both focused on cuts of up to 30 per cent.
Valve is facing a separate consumer action in the US, filed in Seattle in August 2024.
