Steam Antitrust Action 2023: Are Gamers Owed Refunds?

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are gathering Steam users to take action against the platform’s operator, Valve Corporation, over alleged violations of federal antitrust law.

Specifically, a lawsuit filed against Valve in April 2021 alleges that the company has illegally suppressed competition in the PC game distribution market and used its “dominance” to force video game publishers to pay an excessive 30% commission to sell their games through the Steam Store. According to the case, Valve’s anticompetitive efforts have ultimately resulted in consumers paying inflated prices for PC games across the market.

Steam Antitrust Lawsuit Claims Valve Harmed Publishers and Consumers

In April 2021, a video game publisher and two Steam users filed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging Valve Corporation – which the suit says is “perhaps the most profitable company in the world” – has used its monopoly power to ensure that the vast majority of PC games are sold through the Steam Store – and at “supracompetitive” prices.

Per the lawsuit, Valve’s dominance in the video game distribution market is fueled by its massively popular Steam gaming platform – “by far” the largest PC desktop gaming platform in the world. The case relays that many video game publishers consider it “essential” for their games to be compatible with Steam in order to succeed as they will otherwise be unable to reach most of their audience.

However, releasing games on Steam comes at a high price, the suit says, because Valve requires that publishers agree to sell most of their Steam-compatible games through the Steam Store and charges an excessive 30% commission on sales. Further, publishers must agree not to sell their games for cheaper prices elsewhere, meaning they are essentially forced to raise prices across the market in order to afford Valve’s expensive commission, the lawsuit argues.

Thus, by tying use of the Steam platform to the Steam Store and banning publishers from steering customers to competing distributors that charge lower commissions, Valve ensures that it will be able to take a 30% cut of the majority of sales in the PC game market, yielding over $6 billion in annual revenue, the case alleges.

Per the suit, these immense profits come at the expense of publishers, who can’t afford to invest as much in innovation and development, and consumers, who end up paying higher retail prices for games.

Attorneys believe consumers who purchased games through the Steam Store may have paid as much as 60% more than they would have paid absent Valve’s anticompetitive conduct.

Is This Legit? Am I Signing Up for a Lawsuit?

You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:

“[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”

In October 2021, the judge overseeing the Steam antitrust lawsuit ruled that because of an arbitration provision in Steam’s subscriber agreement, consumers who purchased games must arbitrate their claims against Valve instead of resolving them through a lawsuit. Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of court before a neutral arbitrator rather than a judge or jury.

In light of this ruling, attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter as a mass arbitration.

How Much Does This Cost?

It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.

If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.

How Much Money Could I Get?

There are no guarantees as to how much your payout could be or whether your claim will be successful. However, attorneys believe consumers who sign up for the mass arbitration could potentially get a refund of up to 60% of the amount they spent on games from the Steam Store.

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