Valve Reportedly Threatened to Pull Rainbow Six Siege from Steam
IGN • • technology
Key Points:
- Valve reportedly used aggressive tactics to maintain Steam's dominance, including threatening to delist Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege over a cheaper starter pack offered on Ubisoft's own store.
- Emails revealed in an antitrust lawsuit suggest Valve pressured publishers like Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Interactive to enforce pricing parity on Steam, with actions such as deleting pre-orders when prices were higher than other retailers.
- A Steam business team member denied the existence of an official pricing parity policy despite evidence to the contrary, highlighting Valve's ambiguous stance on such practices.
- Valve is currently facing multiple legal challenges, including a $900 million lawsuit over monopoly claims and a separate lawsuit from the New York Attorney General regarding the use of loot boxes.
- These revelations come as part of a broader investigation into Valve's business practices, raising questions about its competitive behavior in the digital game marketplace.