In April, indie studio Wolfire Games, which created an action game about anthropomorphic animals Overgrowth, sued Valve. She claimed that Steam owners forbid publishers to sell games in other stores at cheaper prices, and generally abuse their position in the PC market. Three months later, Valve stated that there were no grounds for these accusations.
Recall that Wolfire Games had two main claims.
First of all, the indie studio was not satisfied that Steam accounts for 75% of PC game sales in the United States. This forces developers to go to Valve's store and give it a 30% commission. According to Wolfire Games, in order to beat off a high commission, developers have to raise the price tag on their games. As a result, everyone suffers — buyers who cannot save money, and developers who cannot spend money on innovations and new games.
That's just Valve itself believes that the accusation is partly far-fetched. Firstly, Wolfire Games has not confirmed the words about 75% of the market in any way. Secondly, a 30% commission is a standard in the industry. The only exceptions so far are Microsoft, Amazon and Epic Games stores, which have a commission of 12% to 20%.
The second claim by Wolfire Games concerned the so-called "Price Parity Clause for Steam keys". It prohibits publishers and developers from selling game keys in other stores for less than on Steam.
Valve did not explicitly say that it does not specify such a clause in the contract. But she noted that the only proof that Wolfire Games provided was the story that Valve allegedly did not allow some developer to distribute a game for free on Discord, which was sold on Steam for $5.
Gabe Newell's company sees two solutions to the problem. She offered to completely withdraw the claim due to lack of evidence. Or suspend the claim until the claims of individual defendants in the case are considered in the arbitration court.