The Steam Challenge

Image via GameRant 

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“Some trees flourish, others die. Some cattle grow strong, others are taken by wolves. Some men are born rich enough and dumb enough to enjoy their lives. Ain’t nothing fair.” 

A profound quote, but who said it? The answer is John Marston from Red Dead Redemption in 2010. A homage to gamers which has grown to an increasingly debated issue, especially due to lawsuits in the U.S and U.K regarding the parent company of Steam, Valve. 

Valve, the parent company of steam, is an online store front specializing in video games and associated hardware and software such as the steam deck. Steam has a usage of an estimated 132 million monthly active users accounting for over 10 billion dollars and an estimated 75% market share of the online digital distribution market for video games. 

The company is facing an anti-trust lawsuit in the U.K lead by the group Steam You Owe Us. Accusing Steam of excessive prices and anti-competitive behavior. The lawsuit is specifically critical of Steam’s 30% commission for games sold on its website with the lawsuit seeking 656 million pounds (around 890 million in USD) as compensation. 

The campaign was launched by Vicki Shotbolt, a digital rights campaigner originally claiming “It is illegal for companies in the UK to abuse their dominant position in a market.” On the Steam You Owe Us website has softened such rhetoric, allegedly due to negative public opinion from gamers. The case is planned to proceed to trial after Valve lost an appeal tribunal to get the case dismissed.  

In the U.S, cases have been filed in the states of Washington (Steam’s home state) and New York by Attorney General Letitia James. Which echoes many concerns from the U.K lawsuit although the Washington and U.K cases were brought by consumers and the case in NY was brought by the government. The U.S cases focus on “the Steam Community Market. This is a secondary market that allows players to sell their digital goods, like those earned from loot boxes, for real-world money.” Essentially arguing that the loot box system is a form of illegal gambling that can seriously harm young people. 

There was also a similar case in California against Supercell, the developers behind Brawl States and Clash Royale, also likening loot boxes as a form of illegal gambling in 2021—the case was dismissed. 

Although Value argues that in-game loot boxes can be likened to “baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu” saying such collectables have been held as legal forms of chance and loot boxes should be included with them. Valve also was critical of the AG for suggesting the implementation of increased age verification calling such measures “invasive.” Along with emphasizing previous studies that showed no links between media and real life violence.  

These lawsuits also come while many states have expanded legal online gambling including NY. This has led to the establishment of prediction market apps such as Poly Market and Kalshi which allows betting on a wide range of topics from “will Jesus come back before 2027?” to “will Trump say Low-IQ this week” to “Jeffery Epstein confirmed to be alive before 2027.”  They have likewise come under criticism for expansion of gambling though are becoming more popular and mainstream. 

 There are talks of how companies would respond to loot boxes being regulated as loot boxes have already been banned in certain countries. They have also created the X Ray opening system which shows what is in a loot box before opening. This does not change much unless someone chooses never to open a loot box of that type again; it is unsure how gamers would react to such a system being implemented. 

There have also been reactions from gamers in support of Steam stating that the 30% commission is industry standard across different platforms. Along with Steam games still being consistently cheaper than those on consoles and many consumers having better user experiences on Steam. For example one of Steam’s major competitors, Epic Games—owners of fortnight—have recently had mass layoffs and are engaging in price increase for v-bucks (fortnight’s in-game currency) yet having made one of the most successful battle royale games. While Steam record player count keeps increasing and prices remain consistent. Leading some to argue that Steam is simply ahead in the market because it is simply more consumer friendly and caters to developers and users alike. 

Although some online have leaned increasingly into speculation of a “coordinated attack” such claims have since shown little to no evidence. Those online have also called AG Letitia James’ attempt to prosecute Steam a way of “getting a cut” of the profits as NY has some of the highest taxes in the U.S. Though such claims are unsubstantiated. But it does reveal the distrust of regulators and such lawsuits. 

It is also important to note Steam’s success has also come from failures of many competitors such as Nintendo and Xbox who both have been facing a struggling year for their respective platforms. Nintendo has been in various legal battles with a game company called Palworld over copyright infringement but Nintendo has been losing various lawsuits and is already disliked by many gamers for aggressive digital rights management (DRM) and heavy regulation of taking down copyright material. Xbox meanwhile has engaged in mass layoffs and cancellations of projects dampening its appeal to consumers also. Last year Electronic Arts (EA), the owners of The Sims, FIFA, Battle Field, and many other AAA games, another steam competitor, was sold to Jared Kushner and others in Saudi Arabia and was already one of the “worst companies in America” due to excessive consumerist tendencies. Taken together it is clear why Steam is one of the largest digital distributors as many others can’t compete with Steam. 

All this leaves many questions unanswered and many legal questions for the courts to decide which side is in the right. Though better put in the words of Ellie from the Last of Us, will it “Endure and Survive?”

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This article was edited by Abigail D’Angelo.