The European Commission follows Steam and the publishers

While Twitch was trying to block the copyright amendment with geographical blocking, the European Commission has informed Valve (Steam) and the publishers Bandai Namco, Capcom, Home Focus, Koch Media (Deep Silver) and Zenimax (Bethesda, id) Companies violate the EU's competition rules and prevent consumers from acquiring PC games beyond the borders of other Member States.

The Commission currently finds that Valve has bilateral agreements with publishers and developers to block computer video games not purchased in their country of residence. This violates the antitrust rules of the EU. The question of how to bring this into conformity with German law is particularly interesting. Games in the context of youth protection can sometimes be moved to lists A and B of an index.

Until now, you will have doubts on the mental plane but probably not yet. First, there is a European directive that must be respected. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: "In a true digital single market, European consumers should have the right to buy and play video games of their choice, regardless of where they live in the EU. , and they should not be prevented, Valve and the five video game publishers now have the opportunity to respond to our concerns. "

In particular, two points are criticized:

• "Valve and the five PC video game publishers have agreed, in violation of the EU's competition rules, to prevent cross-border sales by using geo-localized product keys, also in response to non-competitive orders. called "pbadive purchases" of PC video games from different Member States (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and, in some cases, Romania), which may prevent consumers from buying games in other Member States at cheaper prices. "
• Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and Zenimax have breached EU competition rules by including restrictive export covenants in their agreements with several distribution companies other than Valve, and distributors have not not allowed to play PC video games outside the allocated territories, which could include one or more Member States, and consumers may have been prevented from buying and playing video games offered by these distributors, over physical media such as DVDs or download. "

Ultimately, the aim of the European Commission is to ensure that European citizens benefit from globalization in their field of application. So maybe you can buy games in Portugal. On the financial side, this does not really matter on Steam because EU citizens usually pay the same price, and the euro is always one of the highest values. But you can buy a game on Poland and at least save a little. Comparisons via SteamDB are interesting here, as prices also vary by game.

The European Commission adds: "Following the Commission's preliminary opinion as set out in the Statement of Objections, these companies closed their national markets and restricted pbadive purchases by consumers, which ultimately makes European consumers a priority of the digital single market of the Union If this were the case, there would be a violation of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits agreements anti-competitive investigation was not planned ".

"Investigations into the geographical blocking of PC video games complete Commission Regulation 2018/302 on unjustified geographical blocking, which is in effect in the EU on 3 December 2018. The regulation prohibits geographical blocking and illegal copying. other geographic restrictions making online shopping and cross-border sales more difficult By limiting the ability of consumers and businesses to benefit from online commerce, the regulation currently applies to PC video games distributed on CD or DVD, but In particular, it will badess the scope of the regulation and its potential application to certain services provided electronically that offer copyright-protected content, such as music, e-books , software and online games, as well as services in the relevant fields, such as transport and audio-visual services. suels. "

The Commission opened a formal antitrust proceeding on 2 February 2017 concerning bilateral agreements between Valve Corporation and the five PC video game publishers. It is an autonomous process that, while independent of the e-commerce competition sector inquiry, is a follow-up to some of the issues it raises. A Statement of Objections is a formal step in the Commission's investigations into alleged breaches of the EU antitrust rules. The Commission informs the parties in writing of the complaints lodged against them. The parties may then consult the Commission's file of the investigation, make written observations and request an oral hearing to present their views to the Commission representatives and the national competition authorities. . If the Commission, after exercising its rights of defense, concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an offense, it may adopt a decision prohibiting behavior and impose a fine of up to 39 to 10% of its amount for the undertakings concerned. annual global business figure. "

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