Border Patrol
After an investigation by the European Commission, a selection of publishers was hit with a combined fine of € 7.8 million (or about $ 9.4 million) for accusations of geographic blocking practices.
In an official Commission decision, it was decided that Capcom, Bandai Namco, ZeniMax, Koch Media, Focus Home Interactive and Steam owner Valve violated antitrust laws by locking the Steam activation key region to more than 100 bonds between the years 2010 and 2015. The bonds in question were discarded outside the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, thereby violating the commission’s “Single Market” policies.
“These commercial practices have denied European consumers the benefits of the EU’s Digital Single Market for shopping between Member States to find the most suitable offer”, states the Commission’s official conclusions. “The Commission concluded that the illegal practices of Valve and the five publishers divided the EEA market in violation of EU antitrust rules.”
The fines of each publisher were adjusted according to the cooperation received from each company. Most of the cited publishers saw a reduction in their sentence. Valve – which allegedly did not cooperate with the investigation – was fined € 1.6 million (about $ 2.9 million). Valve has since declared to Eurogamer that did cooperate with the Commission and intends to appeal the decision. Focus Home Interactive received the most ferocious penalty, weighing € 2.8 million (about $ 3.4 million) even with a reduction.
“More than 50% of all Europeans play video games,” said European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager. “The video game industry in Europe is thriving and is now worth more than € 17 billion. Today’s sanctions against Valve’s ‘geo-blocking’ practices and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that, according to EU competition law, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting cross-border sales. Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU’s Digital Single Market and the opportunity to seek the most suitable offer in the EU. “
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