A California magistrate judge has ordered Valve to comply with Apple’s recent request for financial data for more than 400 Steam titles.
Earlier this month, Apple approached Steam for information on annual sales of apps, IAPs and external products, along with details on Steam revenue.
The iPhone maker said the information will be used in the long-running legal battle with Epic, allowing it to calculate “the total market size for Epic’s digital distribution channels.” Apple explained that it had already contacted Samsung with a similar request, which the court considered relevant to the issue in question.
Valve pushed back against Apple and essentially told the company that it did not see how its data – extracted from a completely different platform and market – would be relevant to the case.
“In a way, in a dispute over mobile apps, a computer game maker that doesn’t compete in the mobile market or sells ‘apps’ is described as a key figure,” Valve said. “Is not.”
As reported by Kotaku, however, a judge told Valve to share data on 436 specific titles sold through Steam since 2017.
Judge Hixson said Valve has until mid-March to comply with the order, telling his legal team that “Apple has jumped on the bandwagon with summonses, so don’t worry, it’s not just you.”
Epic and Apple will head in May 2021 to resolve their legal dispute, which triggered life after Fortnite The manufacturer has tried to circumvent the App Store platform fees using third-party payment methods – recommending Apple to pass Fortnite from its platforms.