According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Valve was unable to appeal a fine of 1.6 million euros for violating EU antitrust regulations. The European Commission imposed the fine on Valve in 2021 because the company and some of its partners implemented IP blocking of game activation codes, preventing players from purchasing game activation codes across regions.
This means that activation codes sold in some countries in the EU cannot be used in other countries in the EU. The European Commission said this violated the rules of the EU's Digital Single Market.
In addition to Valve, the European Commission has also fined five other companies for listing games on Steam: BandaiNamco, Capcom, Focus, KochMedia and ZeniMax. In total, activation code IP blocks have been blocked in about 100 games.
Valve does not acknowledge the violation. The company said cross-region sales have been abandoned and only a small number of activation keys still apply, not for games sold directly on Steam. Valve has tried to appeal several times, but the results of many decisions are still on the side of the European Commission. However, Valve still has a chance to appeal.
European authorities have fined the above companies a total of 7.8 million euros, with game publisher Focus receiving the highest fine of 2.8 million euros.
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