Gabe Newell Shoots Down Steam Monopoly Claims As Valve Faces Antitrust Scrutiny
Gabe Newell is one of the few CEOs in tech who is largely viewed favorably by gamers, but critiques of Steam's ubiquity have spurred antitrust lawsuits both Stateside and overseas. The Stateside class action lawsuit initiated by Wolfire Games started in 2021 argues that through Steam, Valve has been allowed to stymie competition and punish developers for offering better prices on competing storefronts.
In a meeting at the Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle, Newell was quoted by Bloomberg denying this allegation, stating that "Valve does not have a policy or practice of dictating prices" for third-party stores. Even after being presented with seeming evidence of Valve employees enforcing a rule, Gabe repeated his denial, "at times verbatim," again and again.
The big headline-grabber was Newell's response to a lawyer asking how Valve would react if developers did discount games on other storefronts. Gabe expressed confusion at the question, then...
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