According to the decision of the British Competition Appeals Tribunal, the V Society will face an action of up to £656 million for alleged unfair pricing at Steam. V was accused of abuse of market dominance, imposing restrictions on game distributors and locking players on the Steam platform.
This legal action was launched in June 2024 by the CEO of the digital rights advocate Parent Zone, Vicki Shotbolt, representing 14 million Steam users across the United Kingdom, who would be compensated if successful. The Court did not support the claim that the case should not be allowed to proceed. The petition before the court charged V Society with “coercing” the distributors of the game to accept the relevant provisions, limiting their sales of the game earlier or less on the competitive platform. The petition stated that since the V Society required the user to purchase all additional items through Steam, if the initial game was purchased through the platform, the user was actually “locked” for continuous consumption on the platform.
Viki Shotbolt argued that Steam’s status enabled it to secure a “up to 30 per cent cut” that led British consumers to pay an excessive fee for purchasing a game and additions to PC. The case was a class action, in which one person brought an action on behalf of a larger group. The case represents approximately 14 million British users who have purchased games or additions through Steam or other platforms since 2018, supported by Milberg London LLP, a firm that has initiated class actions specifically for large enterprises. In April 2021, V also received an antimonopoly suit from the Wolfire studio, again focusing on 30 per cent of the stock taken from Steam. The proceedings were dismissed later that year and reopened in May of the following year with minor modifications. Meanwhile, in June 2021, the Dark Catt studio filed a lawsuit against V Society. In July 2022, the Court decided to join the two cases and in November 2024 it was recognized as a class action. In addition, V Society faced another consumer class action in the United States in August 2024. originally known for developing award-winning games such as Halflife, Society V launched the Steam platform in 2003. According to VG Insights data, in 2025 alone, the platform launched over 19,000 games, generating $11.7 billion in revenue. The company ‘ s business has been extended to the hardware field, with the introduction of the portable handheld Steam Deck in 2022. Recently, V also announced the launch of a new host, Steam Machine, to compete with Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation, designed to make the players play PC games on television.
