Valve, Capcom, Bethesda, $ 9.4 million raised by the European Union for a “geographic cluster”

The European Commission has fined Valve, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax € 7.8 million (~ $ 9.4 million) for practicing “geo-blocking”, which, according to commission, violates EU antitrust rules. Geo-blocking is a practice where the owner of a platform like Steam forces users in a country to pay the price of the video game specified for that country only, rather than allowing them to purchase the game elsewhere in the country. Europe, where it can be cheaper.

In a press release, the European Commission said the Steam computing platform and the five publishers introduced in the past have restricted cross-border sales of computer games based on their geographic location with the European Economic Area (EEA).

All five publishers agreed to cooperate with the committee and saw a reduced fine, while Valve chose not to cooperate and was fined 1.6 million euros (~ $ 1.9 million) .

“Today’s sanctions against geo-blocking measures by Valve and five video game advertisers are a reminder that under European Union competition law, companies are not allowed to contractually restrict cross-border sales.” , said Vice President Margita Westger. Today’s Fines Disclaimer.

“Such approaches deprive European consumers of the benefits of the European Union’s digital marketplace and of the ability to seek the most suitable offer in the European Union.”

Valve was previously fined AU $ 3 million by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2016 for what the state described as “false or misleading claims under Australian consumer law. In Valve’s refund policy.

At the time, Steam did not have a recovery system, but it introduced this system in 2015.

Matt Kim is an IGN reporter.