According to a decision by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), issued on September 27, 2023, Steam game keys can no longer be locked based on the player’s country of residence. This practice, implemented by the PC video game sales platform, violates European Union legislation, according to the CJEU. More specifically, it is the rejection of an appeal presented by Valve, the publisher of the Steam platform.
These so-called “activation” keys allow you to activate and therefore play a video game on the platform. As a reminder, Steam is the most popular PC video game purchasing platform in the world.
In addition to the famous platform, the case affects five other video game companies: Bandai, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax are also accused of having violated European Union law by using this practice and of having launched a set of anti-competitive practices.
The practices in question “would have aimed to restrict cross-border sales of certain PC video games compatible with Steam, by establishing territorial control functions during different periods between 2010 and 2015, in particular in the Baltic countries, as well as in certain countries of Central and Eastern Europe”, states the Court of Justice in its press release.
No copyright protection
Specifically, the geoblocking “aimed to prevent video games, distributed in certain countries at low prices, from being acquired by distributors or users located in other countries where prices are much higher,” in the words of the CJEU. The Court of Justice indicates that it considers that the geo-blocking applied by Steam was not, moreover, for the purpose of protecting copyright, but was practiced solely for economic purposes.
“The geo-blocking in question did not have the objective of protecting the copyright of PC video game publishers, but was used to suppress parallel imports of these video games and protect the high level of publishers’ copyright, or even the margins received by Valve”, indicates the Court in its press release.
As a result, Steam should no longer be able to prevent a user from activating a key from a different country. There are fears of possible price increases in response to this CJEU decision.
Initially, the price increase on Steam caused numerous abuses, forcing the platform to rethink the way it prices the video games it offers. In particular, due to the difference between different world currencies, players have been encouraged to obtain video game activation keys in other countries.
Source: BFM TV
