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The EU fined Valve and five publishers € 7.8 million ($ 9.5 million) for their practice of “geo-blocking” PC game sales on Steam, which essentially means forcing users in one country (eg Germany) to pay only the German price for a game, instead of letting them buy a cheaper version of the same game in another European country.
Geo-blocking violates EU antitrust rules, which is why the five publishers named – Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax (Bethesda) – were fined around $ 6.2 million. euros. As the owners and operators of Steam, Valve – which “has chosen not to cooperate with the Commission” – has been fined 1.6 million euros.
“The sanctions taken today against the ‘geo-blocking’ practices of Valve and five PC video game publishers are a reminder that under EU competition law, companies cannot contractually restrict sales cross-border ”, said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of European Competition said. “Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU’s digital single market and the possibility of seeking the most suitable offer in the EU”.
If the “Valve chose not to cooperate” thing sounds familiar, it’s because the company was also useless in the face of legal action in Australia, before the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission forces their hand.
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