Valve, Capcom, Bethesda, fined $ 9.4 million by the EU for ‘Geo-Blocking’

The European Commission fined Valve, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax by € 7.8 million (~ $ 9.4 million) for the practice of “geo-blocking”, which the Commission says violates the rules European Union antitrust .Geo-blocking is the practice in which a platform owner like Steam forces users in one country to pay the video game set price only for that country, instead of allowing them to buy the game elsewhere in the Europe where it’s cheaper.

In a press release, the European Commission states that the Steam PC platform and the five publishers listed above have restricted international sales of PC games based on geographical location with the European Economic Area (EEA).

The five editors agreed to cooperate with the Commission and saw a reduced fine, while Valve “chose not to cooperate” and was fined more than € 1.6 million (~ USD 1.9 million).

Today’s sanctions against the practices of ‘geo-blocking’ by Valve and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that, under EU competition law, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting international sales, ”he said. Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager in a statement on today’s fines.

“Such practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU’s Digital Single Market and the opportunity to research the most suitable offer in the EU.”

Valve was previously fined AUD 3 million by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 2016 for what the country says is “false or misleading representations under the Australian Consumer Law” with Valve’s refund policies.

At the time, Steam did not have a refund system, but it introduced one in 2015.

Matt TM Kim is an IGN reporter.