Valve's dominance in the PC gaming market has put it squarely in the sights of a UK activist who thinks Valve is charging Steam gamers and developers too much money for games distributed on the platform. BBC reports that Valve is being hit with a £656 million ($903 million) lawsuit for "abusing its market dominance" by digital rights campaigner Vicki Shotbolt. If she wins, all 14 million UK Steam gamers could be compensated, and similar lawsuits could likely hit Valve in other countries.
The lawsuit instigated by Shotbolt claims that Valve is prohibiting games sold on its Steam platform from being sold through other distribution platforms that might charge less for the same games. Valve is also being charged for allegedly imposing anti-steering provisions based on its in-game purchasing model, where PC game add-ons or DLC only work through Steam if the base game was purchased through Steam. Finally, Valve is being charged for charging consumers too much based on "excessive commission charges".
