Companies that violate the antitrust law.
The European Commission fined six editorial giants for the geographic blocking of Steam keys.
In a post on its website, the EC said it was fining Valve, as well as Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax € 7.8 million after an investigation into whether they had violated European antitrust rules.
In short, the European Commission questioned the fact that publishers can set Steam keys to be activated only in some countries. This goes against the concept of the European digital single market.
Of the fined publishers, Valve was the only one that did not cooperate, the company being fined € 1,624,000. Capcom received a 15% reduction for cooperation and fined € 396,000, while Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax Media received a 10% reduction, paying € 340,000, € 2,888,000, € 977,000 and € 1,664,000 respectively.
“More than 50% of all Europeans play video games,” said EVP Margrethe Vestager.
“The video game industry in Europe is thriving and is now worth more than € 17 billion. Today’s sanctions against Valve’s “geographic blocking” practices and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that under EU competition law, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting international sales. Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU’s Digital Single Market and the opportunity to search for the most suitable offer in the EU. “
This follows the EC analyzing the matter from 2017, before a preliminary investigation. In April 2019, it reported that the said companies violated antitrust legislation.