The European Commission launched formal investigation proceedings into ValvE and other 5 publishers for geo blocking

[zMeul]

source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-02-european-commission-to-investigate-valve-and-five-publishers-over-suspected-geo-blocking

press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-201_en.htm

 

 

Quote

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy said: "E-commerce should give consumers a wider choice of goods and services, as well as the opportunity to make purchases across borders. The three investigations we have opened today focus on practices where we suspect companies are trying to deny these benefits for consumers. The cases concern the consumer electronics, video games and hotel accommodation sectors. More specifically, we are looking into whether these companies are breaking EU competition rules by unfairly restricting retail prices or by excluding customers from certain offers because of their nationality or location."

 

the bit that interests us:

Quote

The Commission is investigating bilateral agreements concluded between Valve Corporation, owner of the Steam game distribution platform, and five PC video game publishers, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax. The investigation concerns geo-blocking practices, where companies prevent consumers from purchasing digital content, in this case PC video games, because of the consumer's location or country of residence.
After the purchase of certain PC video games users need to confirm that their copy of the game is not pirated to be able to play it. This is done with an "activation key" on Valve's game distribution platform, Steam. This system is applied for a wide range of games, including sports, simulation and action games.
The investigation focuses on whether the agreements in question require or have required the use of activation keys for the purpose of geo-blocking. In particular, an "activation key" can grant access to a purchased game only to consumers in a particular EU Member State (for example the Czech Republic or Poland). This may amount to a breach of EU competition rules by reducing cross-border competition as a result of restricting so-called "parallel trade" within the Single Market and preventing consumers from buying cheaper games that may be available in other Member States.

 

the investigation will not have a legal deadline and will take as long as necessary, depending on the cooperation of the corporations involved

the investigation is a direct follow up to the 2015 inquiry in e-commerce sector: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4921_en.htm

 

we all know it that ValvE is actively involved in geo-blocking keys from activating in certain countries and they are not the only ones doing it ... EA with Origin store

 

ps: oh Brexit  nice knowing ya'

[tlink]

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

[Trixanity]

7 minutes ago, tlink said:

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

Very pro consumer and heavily regulated. That's why Americans hate the EU :-)

[SCHISCHKA]

6 minutes ago, tlink said:

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

Iv always viewed the EU as willing to sue big USA software companies at any chance. They fined MS big time for putting a browser in their OS. I think there were other anti-competitive or trust cases in the 90s where MS lost in EU but won in USA

[JamieOlive]

13 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

 

27 minutes ago, tlink said:

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

Iv always viewed the EU as willing to sue big USA software companies at any chance. They fined MS big time for putting a browser in their OS. I think there were other anti-competitive or trust cases in the 90s where MS lost in EU but won in USA

 

It's not that Eu fines American Companies, the other way around exist as well, the moment an American Enterprize is fined by the EU, a few weeks after that a European one is being fined by the States.

Both sides have questionable dealings, so when things get out of hand or comapnies get too greedy on either side there goes the fines.

 

As far as regulation go its only natural in the EU, cause of the different constitutions and loopholes that appear from country to country.

But on the subject, things like geo-locking of games or software or even digital content happens all the time, here in Greece we have multiple cases of such work, and generally these EU practices take time, but in the end they pave the future a "little" more smoothly, until some other shits happens again and there we go again.

[porina]

Europe (including UK for now) is supposed to be a single market, so if they're prohibiting purchases from different areas within the EU to enforce pricing differentials, that is a cause for concern. This doesn't hold for comparing between inside and outside the common market. There is often minor variation in pricing if multiple currencies are involved anyway, since they like to round to nearest marketing friendly values.

 

For a non-gaming example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3021321/Pub-landlord-wins-eight-year-battle-overturn-conviction-showing-football-foreign-channels.html

 

Another parallel example, is in my other hobby of keeping fish. There are several German manufacturers of products. One of them is behaving in a way I find difficult to support. Pricing in Germany is typically significantly lower than in the UK, even considering extra postage. They have gone as far as to say, if the products aren't purchased from an official UK stockist, they will not support it AT ALL, even if dealing through Germany. Despite many calling them out for it being illegal, they have held fast, and will probably do so unless forced to otherwise by law. Most people have moved on to other similar alternatives as a result of their stance, but they still have a significant following and seem unphased by it. Their stance has been the extra costs in UK are used to build extra services for UK region, but this does not excuse them from denying service if UK people want to go through Germany. If we don't pay for UK service, I don't expect UK service, but I do not expect to be denied German service in the process.

 

A lot of this would be reduced if there were fewer barriers to trade.

[Mihle]

I think that's the reason why you can use Escape of Tarkov that is bought in Europe, can be used all over the world, but if you buy it in America for example, you can only play it in America.

 

But the reason might also be that the European copy is the most expensive ( I don't know if that's the case, but it might be)

[Bouzoo]

So...  when will Netflix and Google (Youtube) come under investigation? 

 

As far as Valve goes, this is a double edged sword imo. For example, some new AAA can be found in India for few $ iirc, so if they were to remove geo blocking, imagine if prices were to increase tenfold, and even more. Hopefully there is a middleground. 

[zMeul]

19 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

So...  when will Netflix and Google (Youtube) come under investigation? 

 

As far as Valve goes, this is a double edged sword imo. For example, some new AAA can be found in India for few $ iirc, so if they were to remove geo blocking, imagine if prices were to increase tenfold, and even more. Hopefully there is a middleground. 

this is only for the EU market not for outside purchases

[Bouzoo]

3 minutes ago, zMeul said:

this is only for the EU market not for outside purchases

Or right, I falsely remembered they would fight against geo blocking all together. Still, I wonder if there are similar cases in Europe. Anywho, waiting for Netflix and Google to finally fall under this. 

[Guest Kloaked]

1 hour ago, Trixanity said:

Very pro consumer and heavily regulated. That's why Americans hate the EU :-)

We hate every country equally.

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

Or right, I falsely remembered they would fight against geo blocking all together. Still, I wonder if there are similar cases in Euopre. Anywho, waiting for Netflix and Google to finally fall under this. 

there is shit, on Netflix for example, that is available only in some countries

[Bouzoo]

2 minutes ago, zMeul said:

there is shit, on Netflix for example, that is available only in some countries

Then there is shit that is available in for instance Sweden but not in my country. Then there is shit that you can watch in US but not in Sweden or Croatia. 

[zMeul]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

Then there is shit that is available in for instance Sweden but not in my country. Then there is shit that you can watch in US but not in Sweden or Croatia. 

again, this is only for inside EU

[Bouzoo]

4 minutes ago, zMeul said:

again, this is only for inside EU

Between other things, it is inside EU as well, as I stated. 

[Trixanity]

44 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

We hate every country equally.

Can't argue with that. EU isn't a country though but I'll forgive the blunder because there is only one country worth looking at on a map and it's the US of A! We all know that.

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Can't argue with that. EU isn't a country though but I'll forgive the blunder because there is only one country worth looking at on a map and it's the US of A! We all know that.

fuck yeah now you're talkin my language

[spartaman64]

3 hours ago, tlink said:

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

yep they got rid of cellular roaming charges in the EU so if you get a cellular plan in Germany you can go to the UK without being charged a billion dollars for each byte of data but that might change because brexit 

[Misanthrope]

7 hours ago, zMeul said:

there is shit, on Netflix for example, that is available only in some countries

Not selling it at all isn't the same as selling it at different prices. The EU simply doesn't wants to acknowledge they have weaker economies like Poland it seems so they want to force everyone to price the same.

 

[SansVarnic]

EU always looking for a reason to regulate and or fine a company, if they cannot they will pass a law to make it possible.

Pretty anti-corporation. Hurts the consumer in the long run so adds up to anti-consumer as well.  

 

[That Norwegian Guy]

Good, this shit has to stop. Guildmates keep sending me Steam gifts that don't work because they live in UK or Germany or France, and I live in Norway which is one imaginary "economic tier" above those countries according to Valve.

 

Hope they go after Crunchyroll and other streaming fuckfaces next.

[Prysin]

17 hours ago, tlink said:

the general news i hear from the EU always is pretty pro consumer on this forum, is that just incidental? 

These kinds of things are what the EU should be doing. But they also add lots of destructive regulations too

[Technous285]

7 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

Good, this shit has to stop. Guildmates keep sending me Steam gifts that don't work because they live in UK or Germany or France, and I live in Norway which is one imaginary "economic tier" above those countries according to Valve.

 

Hope they go after Crunchyroll and other streaming fuckfaces next.

Crunchyroll, Netflix and the like are limited in what they can (easily) serve to a region by the contracts and deals made with the providers of the content.

 

As an Australian I can watch subbed episodes of YGO: ArcV (5) through my AU ISP, but using a VPN or unblocker extension to make me seem I'm in the US I get other shows like all of Digimon Tamers which aren't available for me as CR hasn't worked the licensing deal to provided it for Aussie users.

The owners of the shows (eg: Bandai/Toei) haven't sold CR the rights to stream those shows (eg: Tamers) here, thus the onus is on the owners to allow CR to provide access to the shows in any/all regions, or for CR to prove they have the possible viewerbase here to warrant paying for the streaming rights in the region..

[Orangeator]

I just can't wait for a huge big company that is important to the EU (software company) gets sued and after coughing up the money, leaves. Just up roots and no longer stays under EU jurisdiction. Just a big middle finger to them for being sick a tired of being sued every time they do the littlest wrong. I personally would laugh my ass off if Microsoft did that. Just no longer sold any of their products in the EU. Just cut all ties. That would be priceless to see happen. Horrible business strategy for Microsoft of course, but it would be one massive middle finger to the EU.

[zMeul]

3 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

I just can't wait for a huge big company that is important to the EU (software company) gets sued and after coughing up the money, leaves. Just up roots and no longer stays under EU jurisdiction. Just a big middle finger to them for being sick a tired of being sued every time they do the littlest wrong. 

yes yes .. losing tens of millions of clients because they can't stop be greedy

what a joke