What happened

A new class action just hit Microsoft, and the strange part is it traces back to Valve. The claim: Microsoft and Valve effectively agreed not to compete on price, which means we all pay more. It grew out of the long-running Wolfire case, which just got cleared for a full jury trial.

The part that changes things

For years the standard defense was that Valve's price-parity rule only covers Steam keys. Valve's own internal emails, now surfacing in court, suggest it goes much further. They reportedly threatened to delist Ubisoft's Rainbow Six over a cheap Play Store pack, and pulled Warner Bros pre-orders for Shadow of War because the Steam price was higher than elsewhere. Not keys. Whole games on other stores.

Gabe in the deposition

He flatly denied that Valve dictates third-party prices, and kept denying it even when the lawyers put his own staff's emails in front of him saying the opposite.

Where do you land

Steam is genuinely the best place to buy and sell PC games, no argument there. But is "you cannot sell cheaper anywhere else or we pull you from Steam" a fair house rule, or a dominant store using its size to hold prices up across the whole market? Curious what people here think.

Source: Bellular News breakdown

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• Janus