Did you even know that Steam was facing an antitrust lawsuit? As it turns out, this litigation has been ongoing for years, and we just received a major update on it.
Simon Carless, an industry veteran who now heads consultancy firm GameDiscoverCo, shared this update on Twitter:
“Notable: Wolfire & Dark Catt’s antitrust suit against Steam has been certified as a ‘class action’, with ‘all Steam devs who got paid out since 2017’ now part of the eligible group: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.298754/gov.uscourts.wawd.298754.391.0.pdf (Doesn’t mean the lawsuit succeeded, but it’s an important milestone.)”
Carless links to a PDF of the judge’s latest decision, and took a screenshot of this part of the ruling:
“The following class is certified:
All persons or entities who, directly or through an agent, paid a commission to Valve in connection with the sale or use of a game on the Steam platform on or after January 28, 2017, and continuing through the present until the effects of its scheme are eliminated (the “Class Period”), and where either (1) the person or entity was based in the United States and its territories or (2) the game was purchased or acquired by a United States-based consumer during the Class Period.
Excluded from the Class are (a) Defendant, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliate entities, and employees, and (b) the Court and its personnel.”
The ruling also says that developers Wolfire and Dark Catt are appointed class representatives. That means these two companies are going to take this case to court on behalf of all the developers who were paid by Valve on or after January 28, 2017. If they win the case, everyone who falls in that description wins the settlement, but they don’t have to do anything in the case right now.
Now, to understand what is going on here, we do have to go back to the case itself. Wolfire and Dark Catt are both game developers who both once published games on Steam, and are suing over what they claim are anticompetitive practices.
So, do you ever wonder why games are always cheaper on Steam, and are also more consistently cheap, and are on sale more often on Steam as well? Wolfire and Dark Catt claims that Valve forces developers to make this happen. So, for example, they aren’t allowed to sell games lower on Epic Game Store or GOG than they are on Steam. Wolfire and Dark Catt wants to force Valve to stop these practices.
Since this lawsuit started, many fans have gone on the defensive for Steam, as I’m sure you can imagine. But it doesn’t look like thousands of comments on a forum thread are going to beat a Washington district court, at least this time. In fact, last 2022, the judge denied Valve’s attempt to dismiss the case, as we reported.
As Carless noted, it’s clear that this is a major step forward for the case, even if it hasn’t been decided yet. If Wolfire and Dark Catt is telling the truth, and they win in court, we may be looking at a future when you can get more games cheaper somewhere else than they are on Steam, and you’ll see it more often.
But that’s a big if they prove their case, and if they win the case too. As we had previously pointed out, just because Valve is beloved doesn’t mean that we should be taking their side on everything. Many times, they move the industry in ways that are harmful to us gamers, as consumers. With all that said, we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on this case, and where it goes in the future.
