Valve and five PC games publishers fined $9.4M for illegal geo-blocking

[Tool920]

https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/20/valve-and-five-pc-games-publishers-fined-9-4m-for-illegal-geo-blocking/

 

>A lengthy antitrust investigation into PC games geo-blocking in the European Union by distribution platform Valve and five games publishers has led to fines totalling €7.8 million (~$9.4 million) after the Commission confirmed today that the bloc’s rules had been breached.

[skyfire]

EU is turning out communist union it seems. I understand there must be laws on things like that but illegal geo blocking? i mean developer don't even have choice where to release exclusively? lol

[Empire]

EU, I hate that name. EU likes to get there hands on everthing and get as much trouble done. Who is to blame here. One option that glad that the UK left the EU. 

[Shagger]

I don't get why @Empire and @skyfire are being so negative about this. What Valve and the other companies listed were doing was blocking game codes purchased in one part of the EU from being used in another parts of the EU. Remember, the all of Europe is part of the PAL region, so there should be region blocking for software nor hardware. These companies did this to ensure that people were paying the highest price for those games across the whole continent no what matter what that country's indigenous market, economic status and local law dictates as fair, which is incredibly shady and purpose built to rip people off. As gamers, we should be praising them for taking this action.

 

Quick reminder, as a mod', this is not the politics sub-forum, so please avoid the political discussion. You wanna talk politics, do so on the correct part of the forum.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Shagger

[Kane99]

Ah ok, so these guys locked the lower priced games in certain areas and increased it in others. That's messed up. I'm glad they were fined for it. Makes me wonder if this happens in the US or other countries too. 

[killamch89]

1 hour ago, Kane99 said:

Ah ok, so these guys locked the lower priced games in certain areas and increased it in others. That's messed up. I'm glad they were fined for it. Makes me wonder if this happens in the US or other countries too. 

Probably not because they have their money in the politician's pockets so not likely to happen.

6 hours ago, Shagger said:

I don't get why @Empire and @skyfire are being so negative about this. What Valve and the other companies listed were doing was blocking game codes purchased in one part of the EU from being used in another parts of the EU. Remember, the all of Europe is part of the PAL region, so there should be region blocking for software nor hardware. These companies did this to ensure that people were paying the highest price for those games across the whole continent no what matter what that country's indigenous market, economic status and local law dictates as fair, which is incredibly shady and purpose built to rip people off. As gamers, we should be praising them for taking this action.

 

Quick reminder, as a mod', this is not the politics sub-forum, so please avoid the political discussion. You wanna talk politics, do so on the correct part of the forum.

I get what they're saying about the EU but I agree with you in regards to this situation. The EU is cracking down on a lot of the bigger companies and wish more countries in the West would follow their example. Tech companies have been ripping us consumers off for ages so this is a good thing to see.