European Steam users’ game-buying experience may be about to change, as the European Commission has taken aim at Valve’s regional European pricing schemes and practice of geoblocking activation codes obtained from other countries. They’ve also singled out a number of major publishers, including Bandai Namco, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media, and ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda) for making geoblocking arrangements with Steam and other game distributors.
Here’s what EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager had to say about the decision…
“In a true Digital Single Market, European consumers should have the right to buy and play video games of their choice regardless of where they live in the EU. Consumers should not be prevented from shopping around between Member States to find the best available deal. Valve and the five PC video game publishers now have the chance to respond to our concerns.”
Currently, EU anti-geoblocking regulations only cover physical media, but the European Commission will likely expand the laws to cover digital media in 2020, so they’re basically warning Steam to make changes now, before things get ugly. If a company like Steam is found in violation of antitrust laws, they can face a “fine of up to 10 percent of [the] company’s annual worldwide turnover.” So yeah, Valve is going to be taking this seriously.
What this will mean for European Steam customers isn’t yet known, but, in all likeliness, it will mean standardized prices across the EU. This might be a good thing for many Euro buyers, but others, particularly those in places like Poland, may end up paying more. This will also hopefully alleviate some of the confusion surrounding key resellers and retail key boxes.
I’ll admit, I’m located in North America, where the Steam situation is a lot less complicated. What do our Euro readers think? Does this seem like a change for the better or needless meddling?
The post Steam’s Geoblocking of Activation Codes Found to be in Breach of EU Antitrust Laws by Nathan Birch appeared first on Wccftech.
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