Valve Corporation, the operator of the Steam PC gaming platform, is facing a consumer class action lawsuit alleging antitrust violations. The lawsuit, filed by four gamers from California, Florida, and Missouri, accuses Valve of using its market dominance to impose price restraints, thereby 'strangling competition' in the gaming industry. Valve reportedly generates billions of dollars in annual revenue, which the plaintiffs claim is partly due to these anticompetitive practices, including 'inflated prices for games'. In response to these allegations, Valve is also implementing new rules for Steam store page descriptions, which will prohibit links to external websites and other Steam pages starting in early September.
Valve launches 'helpfulness system' for Steam user reviews Joke user reviews are still approved, but Valve's new Steam system helps players learn what others actually think before buying a game. https://t.co/2G9a3n6Sv8 https://t.co/u5xmRFMBh2
Valve implementing new rules to 'refine' Steam store page written descriptions https://t.co/aSxSWWiDhI https://t.co/X93p9GcMkv
"On some game pages in the Steam store, you would find lists of two, three, or even eight other games before the description of the game you were looking at." Valve blocks links within Steam page descriptions https://t.co/1sluJgM1k1