Six major giants of the video game industry have been fined by the European Commission for violating antitrust law. How? Apparently, the reason would be to have been geographically blocking the keys of PC games in Steam.
And we are not talking about a small fine, since the figure rises up to 7.8 million euros. The companies affected are Valve itself, as well as Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax. Furthermore, the news came after an investigation into whether or not these companies had violated European antitrust rules.
The news, which has been echoed by VG24 / 7, has come through an article published on the official website of the European Commission. And in the report presented, the EC comments that it disagrees with the fact that publishers configured keys for Steam that could only be activated in certain countries. They claim that this goes against the concept of the European digital single market.
On the other hand, the fine is already effective. And the report confirms how those 7.8 million euros have been distributed. Apparently, of the six editors fined, Valve was the only one who did not cooperate. And that translated into a fine for them of 1,624,000 euros. Instead, Capcom received a reduction of 15% for cooperation and a fine of 396,000 euros, while Bandai Namco, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax Media received a reduction of 10%, paying 340,000, 2,888,000, 977,000 and 1,664. 000 euros respectively.
Finally, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, also made a statement on this issue:
“The video game industry in Europe is thriving and is now worth more than € 17 billion. Today’s sanctions against Valve’s ‘geoblocking’ practices and five PC video game publishers serve as a reminder that under the law Under EU competition, companies are prohibited from contractually restricting cross-border sales. These practices deprive European consumers of the benefits of the EU digital single market and the opportunity to search for the most suitable offer in the EU. “.
