The European Commission has fined Valve and five other video game publishers a total of €7.8 million ($9.5 million) for « geo-blocking » certain games. Geo-blocking is when a…
The European Commission has fined Valve and five other video game publishers a total of €7.8 million ($9.5 million) for « geo-blocking » certain games. Geo-blocking is when a publisher or, in Valve’s case, a distribution platform restricts game sales based on geographic location. The Commission claims this practice violates EU antitrust rules. It is worth noting that the EC’s investigation focused on the sale of region-locked activation keys and the games themselves. Aside from Valve, the Commission named Capcom, Bandai Namco, ZeniMax, Koch Media, and Focus Home as rule-breakers. Collectively the companies blocked more than 100 games from regions including Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
