Gabe Newell (often shortened to GabeN), the head of Steam and Valve, had to testify in court about his company and its platform, explaining why Steam is not a monopoly despite its popularity.
Why did GabeN have to go to court? Since 2021, there has been a legal dispute between Wolfire Games and Valve. The company alleges that Steam has a monopoly and forbids them from offering their title on other platforms at a lower price.
The trial has progressed to the point where the court summoned Gabe Newell, head of Valve and Steam, to testify. However, he believes that Steam is not a monopoly.
What did GabeN explain? There is no question that Steam is popular. However, according to GabeN, the platform should not be a monopoly. “Customers have a huge selection,” Newell said in his testimony according to a report from Bloomberg, “where they buy their games – whether on Xbox, on Steam, in the Epic Games Store, or directly from the software developers.”
Furthermore, he also denied the accusation of an unwritten rule that would prevent developers from offering their titles cheaper elsewhere than on Steam, clearly rejecting Wolfire Games’ allegation.
“Valve neither pursues a policy nor a practice that would dictate prices to software vendors on other platforms.” When asked how Valve would react if this ever happened, Newell initially said he was confused by the question and then added: “Many of our partners and many of our customers are very satisfied with the service we provide.”
Does Steam have a monopoly? This question is difficult to answer. On PC, Steam is the largest platform for video games. At the same time, there are many competitors like GOG, Epic Games Store, Xbox/Microsoft Store, as well as publishers and developers like Ubisoft and EA who run their own stores.
The fact that players choose Steam does not come from cutthroat prices that aim to drive others out of the market – rather, this is a tactic of Epic Games trying to gain market share with their free titles.
On the other hand, developers have little choice but to bring their game to Steam, as millions of gamers prefer to play there, which is why developers cannot simply forego the platform. Steam is thus close to a monopoly, even though there is a lot of choice for consumers.
Gabe Newell strongly defends against the accusations. For him, Steam is simply the best platform, and Valve would do nothing illegal. Further criticism and similar accusations arise in connection with a very popular shooter from Ubisoft, which allegedly was to be removed from Steam: Valve allegedly threatened Ubisoft that they would remove their most successful game from Steam, and a cost-cutting package was to blame
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