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Apple sued Valve in November in its ongoing litigation with Fortnite developer Epic Games, and it requires Valve to provide extended sales data for more than 400 games, according to a new filing (via PC player).
The move comes amid Apple’s continued fight against Epic’s efforts to avoid paying the iOS App Store fees. Apple argues that Valve’s data is needed to calculate the market size of Epic’s “available distribution channels”, as Epic could theoretically offer its games through Steam in addition to other digital markets. But the data is also extremely valuable in assessing the games and app market – a space in which Apple’s iOS App Store continues to compete with Valve’s Steam market.
Valve maintains that Apple’s claims are extraordinary and is contesting the order.
In one request, Apple brought in Valve for documents showing the company:
(a) total annual sales of integrated applications and products; (b) Steam’s annual advertising revenue; (c) annual sales of external products attributable to Steam; (d) the annual revenues of Steam; and (e) the annual revenues (gross or net) of Steam.
Apple argues that this data is “crucial” in helping it determine “the total market size of Epic’s available digital distribution channels.” The courts have already asked Samsung to provide “almost identical” information, Apple said in the filing.
In addition, Apple also requires Valve to obtain documentation that shows:
(a) the name of each application on Steam; (b) the date range that the application was available on Steam; and (c) the price of the application and any integrated product available on Steam
Valve argues that the demands are too broad. According to Valve’s position statement on file, “Apple gave Valve a list of 436 video games that it claims are available on the Epic Game Store and Steam, and (a) demanded that Valve identify, from 2015 to today, each version and all of the content or elements of each of those games on Steam, and then (b) provide comprehensive information about each of them. ”
The information requested includes release dates, price changes, gross revenue for “game version and item, broken down individually” and Valve’s income “related to those versions, content and items”.
Valve argues that these requests “would place an extraordinary burden on Valve to query, process and combine a massive amount of documents to create the documents Apple is looking for” and that it does not retain this data in the “ordinary course of business. “. (The record also notes that Apple had reduced its data request from “every 30,000+ games on Steam over ten years” to “436 games over six years.”)
Valve also contends that “a lot of what Apple is looking for is information about the sales and pricing of third-party games,” but the company is taking a “shortcut” by assigning Valve instead of getting the information directly. from third-party developers.
On Wednesday, Epic filed a formal antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming that Apple has not only harmed, but completely eliminated competition in the app distribution and payment processes.
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