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Valve and game developers have a bit of a fight on their hands here, with a French court ruling that Valve should allow users to re-sell their digital games.

Reported by the French website Next Inpact, the French consumers group UFC Que Choisir had a victory against Valve as French courts have ruled against them on the topic of reselling digital content. From what I've read and tried to understand, the courts have basically said that when you buy something on Steam it is indeed a proper purchase and not a subscription.

Valve has been ordered to pay damages at €20K plus €10K to cover some costs. On top of that, they will also have to publish the judgement on Steam's home page (presumably only for users in France) and for it to remain visible for three months. If they don't, they will get a fine for each day of €3K. To Valve though, that's likely pocket change. The bigger issue though, is how other countries inside and outside the EU could follow it.

Speaking to PC Gamer who got a statement from Valve, they are going to fight it. Of course they will though, they could stand to lose quite a lot here and it would set a pretty huge precedent for other stores like GOG, Epic, Humble, itch and all the rest.

There's a lot to think about with this situation. Valve could end up changing the way they deal with this, just like they did with the nicer refunds option which came about after legal issues too. Imagine being able to sell and transfer a game over to another Steam user. Valve could take a cut of that most likely too.

Something to think on there is how this could affect game developers too, I'm all for consumer rights but I do try to think about all angles. We could end up looking at higher prices overall, no release day discounts, more micro transactions, more games updated as a constant service, games that require an online account as a service so you're not paying for an actual product and so on as developers try to keep more income when many smaller developers are already struggling.

Interesting times.

Hat tip to Nibelheim.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc, Steam
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179 comments
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kaiman Sep 19, 2019
I only sold about 2 games I bought over the last 30 years, and likely bought a handful of used ones (some of those as collector items, so I would have come cheaper buying new). I don't see this changing much in the future.

Still, there's plenty at stake here, not the least our customer rights when it comes to software. And this can be much more far reaching than games, as software starts to permeate a lot of goods and could be (and already is, to some degree) used to prevent us from selling or passing on stuff that's rightfully ours. So I am generally in favor of this ruling and quite a bit curious how this will pan out eventually (guess the ruling isn't final and there are some higher courts that'll have a say on the final outcome).

Also, Twitter deemed to remind me that there is Robot Cache, a platform in development that is all about selling digital games. I have no clue how it's supposed to work, but it's not like the French have a monopoly on the idea :-).
Comandante Ñoñardo Sep 19, 2019
I think the response from Valve for to keep the consumers calm could be eliminating the Two weeks and two hours time limit for to ask a refund...
It can be interesting to be able to refund a game you finished last year....
From a consumer point of view it will be awesome, but from a publisher point of view it will be a nightmare.
minidou Sep 19, 2019
Quoting: Avehicle7887DRM-Free stores would have to stop selling games to french customers otherwise they risk a serious issue.

I don't see how it affects them at all.

Quoting: Avehicle7887This is a very bad call, and it shows clearly that the people making these decisions have no clue about games and of the challenges devs face every day. They're just paper pushers who didn't think of the consequences, which outweigh the benefits here.

Being able to resell what you own used to be possible. What's so horrible about getting that right back ?
orochi_kyo Sep 19, 2019
This is simple, Valve should close doors on France. This is beyond ridiculous, why suing Valve specifically when every other virtual store including console ones are doing the same.
Now imagine the impact for developers, Funny thing Epic shills will celebrate this when they support Epic because "Epic is cool with devs", lol. They are so dumb.

Quoting: linuxcityi would not mind selling games i no longer play or transfer them to another user

Of course you dont!! All of this is about you and only you, the other people who could get involved negatively doesnt matter.

This behavior of not thinking how anything could affect anyone else but me is a cancer.
We have a healthy gaming sector(not in the employee yet) when we have plenty of competition that allows users to get games in nice sales, but with things like this, I see developers raising prices in order to get the revenue lost by the fact people can resell their games for whatever price they like. This is something really stupid, ruled by a court that has no idea of how the gaming industry is working right now!!

This will affect indies really hard.
ElectricPrism Sep 19, 2019
My take on this:

Digital License* is a supplement for a Physical Good -- namely a DVD game that retains value and be resold.

I can see Frances take on this being practical, and from a consumer perspective I 100% agree with users should be able to sell games or accounts (collections of games).

Where it gets tricky for Valve is I am not sure what their license terms stipulate with content creators and if they legally have the authority to implement this feature.

Assuming they are strong-armed be the law though I can't see how publishers and content creators can really hold them accountable when they are forced to legally comply.

I agree with France, I also think that this should not be a suit against Valve but effect all digital software goods hopefully not only in France but the greater world.


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 19 September 2019 at 10:50 pm UTC
orochi_kyo Sep 19, 2019
Quoting: minidouBeing able to resell what you own used to be possible. What's so horrible about getting that right back ?

If you dont get it now, youll be not getting not even in a million years.
Funny thing is how to get an indie game for 5$ then reselling it in 3$, taking 5$ for a possible sale to that indie. But who fck1ng cares you are not an indie dev, right?

Quoting: ElectricPrismI can see Frances take on this being practical, and from a consumer perspective I 100% agree with users should be able to sell games or accounts (collections of games).
You said it, this is 100% from the consumer POW without taking into account how this could hit devs.

Tell me how we can create better laws for a better world when we make laws just taking one of the sides into account?

It is really disappointing to see the comments and likes here, its like Linux people really hates proprietary software so hard that they would like to see the gaming scene being hit negatively, Just because some extra bucks.


Last edited by orochi_kyo on 19 September 2019 at 10:10 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Sep 19, 2019
Quoting: minidouBeing able to resell what you own used to be possible. What's so horrible about getting that right back ?
It's the implications and how it will affect the industry that we all love, that's what's horrible. You need to look at it more than just an us versus them type of situation. If this goes through and goes across other countries and stores, look at what I wrote at the bottom of the article. PC gaming would become pretty terrible as a whole and indies especially, a large majority would likely throw in the towel completely.
Dunc Sep 19, 2019
Quote... I'm all for consumer rights but I do try to think about all angles. We could end up looking at higher prices overall, no release day discounts, more micro transactions, more games updated as a constant service, games that require an online account as a service so you're not paying for an actual product and so on as developers try to keep more income when many smaller developers are already struggling.
My thoughts exactly. While I don't doubt the good intentions behind this move, publishers/stores aren't just going to throw up their hands and leave everything as it is just with re-selling allowed. They'll figure out workarounds. And those will probably end up being more harmful to consumers than non-transferable licences.

The one law that always gets passed is the law of unintended consequences.
Koopacabras Sep 19, 2019
this will be a nightmare . How does the user know if the key hasn't been already redeemed ?? they will have to implement this in a sort of gift way instead, click on your game and turn it into a gift or a tradable item. I don't think valve will allow copies to sell in their own marketplace, stupid politicians they want valve to shoot at their own legs.
orochi_kyo Sep 19, 2019
Quoting: Dunc
Quote... I'm all for consumer rights but I do try to think about all angles. We could end up looking at higher prices overall, no release day discounts, more micro transactions, more games updated as a constant service, games that require an online account as a service so you're not paying for an actual product and so on as developers try to keep more income when many smaller developers are already struggling.
My thoughts exactly. While I don't doubt the good intentions behind this move, publishers/stores aren't just going to throw up their hands and leave everything as it is just with re-selling allowed. They'll figure out workarounds. And those will probably end up being more harmful to consumers than non-transferable licences.

The one law that always gets passed is the law of unintended consequences.

I see many devs including Ubisoft leaving France, losing hundreds of jobs just because people want to resell a game they get for 15$ for 5$ bucks. I would be agree if this were the gaming market in the 90s where every game on cassette or disk costed 60$ but in this digital era, games are really cheap and people still want to resell it? How cheap one can be?
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