The EU fined Valve and five publishers a total of EUR 7.8 million ($ 9.5 million) for their practice of “geo-blocking” sales of computer games on Steam, which basically means country (say, Germany) to pay only the German price for a game, instead of letting them buy a cheaper version of the same game from another European country.
The geographical blockade violates EU antitrust rules and thus the five publishers cited – Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax (Bethesda) – were fined around EUR 6.2 million. As owners and operators of Steam, Valve – which “chose not to cooperate with the Commission” – was fined EUR 1.6 million.
“Today’s sanctions against Valve’s ‘geo-blocking’ practices and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that companies are prohibited from restricting cross-border sales under EU competition law.” , said EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager say. “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.”
If “Valve chose not to cooperate” sounds familiar, it’s because of the company it was just as useless when faced with lawsuits in Australia, before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission shakes hands.