Ulrich@feddit.org 2 days ago
Amazon has reached out to its vendors and instructed them to increase retail prices on competitors’ websites
This is and has been part of Amazon’s contract to be listed on their site since the beginning. They are not even remotely the only one doing this. It’s an industry norm in digital storefronts. Valve has also been sued for this several times. I don’t know why we’re acting like this is a recent discovery.
We need to just ban this practice, because as long as they’re allowed to, they will.
AliasAKA@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Valve states you can’t sell a steam key in another platform for cheaper than in steam, not that you can’t sell your game anywhere else at a lower price. That’s slightly different than here. Not defending it just saying that it is actually different than here.
Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I just want to add in that what Valve has as official policy and what they actually practice differ in this case. Because yes, their policy states it’s for keys only. However, they have admitted in court that if the publisher has it as a cheaper price elsewhere, they will delist your game
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Source?
Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
The Wolfire versus Valve antitrust case.
They submitted evidence during the discovery process of email chains from Valve customer support stating that they want Valve to have the best deal available and that they will not choose to do business with companies that do not give them the best deal.
On top of that, they also went on record stating that the steam product key page under the Steamworks area is meant to be intended for all products on Steam, not just keys.
AliasAKA@lemmy.world 2 days ago
This is good to know. Can you provide a link to that court case or anything?
Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I have the docket link which is here but its a mess because the original case was dismissed back in 2021, but then amended and merged to contain a larger case.
I used to have the actual document number somewhere if i can find it I will let you know as well. Sadly when the case started getting media attention valve started filing for seal motions on newer evidence, but I don’t /think/ they retroactively sealed anything.