Valve, the makers behind the popular Steam game distribution platform, will be required to hand over aggregate historical sales, pricing and other information about 436 in-store hosted games to Apple as part of the Apple vs. Antitrust case. Epic Games.
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As reported in a report paid by Law360, during a virtual discovery hearing Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson ordered that Apple’s citation for data to Valve be valid, however, he noted that Apple had “jumped the ground with summonses,” telling Valve “Don’t worry, it’s not just you.” Apple’s original citation requested data from Valve on Steam dating back to 2015, but the judge’s ruling will require Valve to produce limited data by 2017.
“Epic Games” is in a fierce legal battle with Apple over the App Store and claims that tech giant Cupertino is blocking developers in its ecosystem and forcing them to pay a “30% fee” for in-app purchases. Apple’s citation for Valve data is one of many that Apple has proposed as it tries to demonstrate the idea that the “App Store” as a software distribution platform is no different.
Gavin W. Stok, a lawyer who represented Valve at the discovery hearing, urged Judge Hixson to dismiss the subpoena and not force his company to produce the data. Stok says Valve is run by a small team and that collecting all of the data requested by Apple would require “the dedication of more full-time employees” and that it could not guarantee that the request could be met on time.
Apple’s attorney, Jay P. Srinivasan, says the request is feasible and points out that Apple could have requested data on all 30,000 games on the Steam store, but that instead only requests data on 436 games. Apple continued to defend its citation, calling Valve a “prominent player” in the full picture of relevant markets, such as the “App Store.”
Ahead of what is expected to be a heated court hearing set for July 2021 between Apple and “Epic Games”, Valve has until mid-March to produce the data. We contacted Valve for comment on the judge’s decision and we will refresh the page once we hear it.