Apple subpoenaed Valve in November as part of its ongoing litigation with Fifteen days developer Epic Games, and is requiring Valve to provide extensive sales data for more than 400 games, according to a new filing (via PC Gamer)
The move comes amid Apple’s continuing struggle over Epic’s efforts to avoid paying fees from the iOS App Store. Apple argues that Valve’s data is needed to calculate the market size of Epic’s “available distribution channels”, as Epic could theoretically offer its games through Steam, in addition to other digital markets. But the data is also immensely valuable for assessing the games and apps market – a space in which the Apple App Store for iOS continues to compete with Valve’s Steam market.
Valve says Apple’s demands are extraordinary and is challenging the request.
In an order, Apple calls Valve to obtain documents that show the following:
(a) total annual sales of applications and in-app products; (b) Steam’s annual advertising revenue; (c) annual sales of external products attributable to Steam; (d) annual Steam revenues; and (e) annual earnings (gross or net) from Steam.
Apple argues that this data is “crucial” to help it determine “the total market size for Epic’s available digital distribution channels.” Courts have already asked Samsung to provide “almost identical” information, Apple said in the lawsuit.
In addition, Apple Furthermore requires Valve to obtain documents that show:
(a) the name of each Application on Steam; (b) the date range when the Application was available on Steam; and (c) the price of the App and any in-app products available on Steam
Valve argues that the requests are too broad. According to Valve’s position statement in the lawsuit, “Apple gave Valve a list of 436 video games that it says are available on the Epic Game Store and Steam, and (a) required Valve to identify, from 2015 to the present, all versions and all digital content or items of each of these games on Steam and (b) provide complete information about all of them. ”
The information requested includes sales dates, price changes, gross revenue from “version of the game and item, broken down individually” and Valve’s revenue “related to those versions, content and items”.
Valve argues that these demands “would impose an extraordinary burden on Valve to consult, process and combine an enormous amount of to create the documents that Apple seeks” and that it does not maintain this data as part of the “normal course of business”. (The suit also notes that Apple has reduced its data request from “all over 30,000 games on Steam in ten years” to “436 games in six years.”)
Valve also argues that “much of what Apple seeks is information on sales and prices of third-party games”, but that the company is taking a “shortcut” by subpoenaing Valve instead of obtaining the information directly from third-party developers.
On Wednesday, Epic filed a formal antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, arguing that Apple “not only harmed, but completely eliminated competition in application distribution and payment processes.”