A suspicion among publishers criticized by the European Commission for geoblocking games

Valve responds to antitrust allegations

Earlier in the day, the European Commission issued a statement of objections to the address of a handful of video game publishers for their geo-blocking practices of games on digital distribution platforms. Of those named, Valve is the most prominent, though Bandai Namco, Capcom, Home Focus, Koch Media and ZeniMax have also been included. This statement follows a lengthy investigation opened in 2013, the Commission considering that each company had committed to a version of antitrust infringements by limiting the sale of certain games in the European Union.

The process of geo-blocking is exactly what it gives: the geographical blocking of products from another region than the buyer lives. The ultimate goal is to prevent the inhabitants of richer countries from buying discounted securities by shopping in different regions. This very practice can be found in a number of digital markets where the cost of CD / Blu-ray / video games may be lower depending on local revenue.

This is explained by the new rules put in place by the EU in December 2018. The European Commission aims to put an end to unjust geographical blocking and wants to establish a market similar to that of the United States, where a single price is maintained. Across the country. Since these companies are doing business that goes against this, the European Commission is asking that the practice be stopped or a fine be imposed.

Valve sent us a statement saying:

Only about 3% of all games using Steam (and none of the Valve-specific games) at the time were subject to disputed region locks in the EEA. Valve believes that the extension of the EC's liability to a platform provider in these circumstances is not supported by applicable law. Nevertheless, because of EC concerns, Valve has effectively disabled area locks in the EEA from 2015, unless these area locks are needed for local legal reasons (such as laws on German content) or geographic boundaries when the Steam partner is allowed to distribute a game. Eliminating region locks will also mean that publishers will likely increase prices in less wealthy regions to avoid arbitrage of the games. price. Sending activation keys from one country to another is free and the activation key is everything a user needs to activate and play a computer game.

According to the statement of the European Commission, the Commission has no legal deadline to complete its investigation. Any number of factors may warrant a lengthy investigation, including the complexity of the case. Once all the designated parties have exercised their rights of defense, it will be for the Commission to decide whether there is sufficient evidence of a violation.

The European Commission asks Valve to stop geo-blocking games within the EU [The Verge]

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