The video game giant Valve has risen to prominence through the huge Steam marketplace, and today a UK class action lawsuit has been filed, calling the marketplace unfair and excessive.
The Valve Corporation will reportedly face a £656m lawsuit in the UK over alleged unfair pricing (and commissions earned on that pricing) on its global online store, Steam. This follows a tribunal ruling that the case can proceed (spotted by Reuters). The London Competition Appeal Tribunal has told Valve that the case will proceed to trial, despite Valve arguing that it should not. The huge game company is being accused of exploiting its current market dominance by imposing restrictive legal terms on game publishers and locking players into using its marketplace, Steam, which also serves as the world’s largest distribution platform for PC gaming.
The legal action was launched in 2024 by Vicki Shotbolt on behalf of as many as 14 million Steam users across the United Kingdom. Those users could be eligible for compensation if the case is successful. Shotbolt alleges that Valve imposes excessive commission fees that ultimately drive up costs for consumers. The company takes a 30 per cent revenue share on all sales made through Steam. The lawsuit further claims that consumers are required to purchase add-on content exclusively through the Steam marketplace, a practice described as effectively locking users into the platform.
When the legal action was first filed, Shotbolt said Valve was “rigging the market and taking advantage of UK gamers.”
The company is also facing a separate class-action lawsuit in the United States over similar allegations. In August 2024, four gamers from California, Florida and Missouri filed a lawsuit against Valve in federal court. The claim alleges the company dominates the market through a low-pricing, high-commission model, generates billions of dollars in annual revenue, and effectively stifles competition.
Valve has not yet responded publicly to the lawsuit. For now, the case appears set to move forward through the courts.
