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Following the European Commission’s investigation, a selection of publishers was hit by a combined fine of EUR 7.8 million (or about $ 9.4 million), following allegations of geographical blocking practices.
In an official Commission ruling, it was decided that Capcom, Bandai Namco, ZeniMax, Koch Media, Focus Home Interactive and the owner of Steam Valve violated antitrust laws by blocking regions of Steam activation keys for more than 100 titles between 2010 and 2015. in question have become unusable outside the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, thus violating the Commission’s “single market” policies.
“These business practices have denied European consumers the benefits of the EU’s digital single market for shopping between Member States to find the best deal,” the Commission’s official findings said. “The Commission concluded that the illegal practices of Valve and the five publishers divided the EEA market, in breach of EU antitrust rules.”
The fines for each publisher were adjusted according to the cooperation received from each company. Most of the named publishers saw a reduction in the penalty. Valve – which does not appear to be cooperating with the investigation – was eventually fined EUR 1.6 million (approximately USD 2.9 million). Since then, Valve has told Eurogamer that this made cooperate with the Commission and intend to appeal the decision. Focus Home Interactive received the heaviest punishment, weighing even EUR 2.8 million (approximately $ 3.4 million) with a discount.
“Over 50% of all Europeans play video games,” said European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager. “Europe’s video game industry is booming and is now worth over 17 billion euros. Today’s sanctions against the “geo-blocking” practices of Valve and the five PC video game publishers remind us that, under EU competition law, companies are banned from contractually restricting cross-border sales. Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU’s digital single market and the opportunity to look for the best offer in the EU. “
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