A group of five gamers in the US have issued a lawsuit to Valve alleging that they have applied publisher agreements which effectively stop publishers selling games for less on other platforms.
Eurogamer reports that although publishers have the ability to set prices for their games, Valve's documentation states that "Initial pricing as well as proposed pricing adjustments will be reviewed by Valve and are usually processed within one or two business days."
It is alleged that Valve are operating a "Most Favoured Nation" clause; "a retail parity clause in which a supplier agrees to treat a particular customer no worse than all other customers. MFNs are under increased scrutiny from authorities across the world, including the European Commission."
It'll be interesting to see if the lawsuit gains traction; Valve will, of course, fight the accusations made but the publishers noted in the supposed anti-competitive agreements would also be implicated.
PC Gamer - amongst other media outlets - adds that it doesn't seem to be case that publishers who have not signed Valve's contract and are putting their games onto other platforms - for example, the Epic Games Store - are then pricing their games cheaper anyway; the publisher is gaining by keeping a higher percentage of the sales income but with no cost reduction given to consumers.
Quelle surprise!Tl;dr Valve allegedly tries to manipulate pricing but even if publishers go elsewhere consumers don't benefit.
