Law Gabe Newell ordered to make in-person deposition for Valve v. Wolfire Games lawsuit - In an order filed on November 16 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, Wolfire Games said Newell "is uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy".

Valve CEO Gabe Newell has been ordered to attend an in-person deposition regarding an antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games.

In an order filed on November 16 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, Wolfire Games said Newell "is uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy" and that an in-person deposition "would allow [it] to adequately assess Newell's credibility."

Newell had asked for a remote deposition due to concerns regarding COVID. However, the court said Newell has presented "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness" and, as a result, has been ordered to attend the deposition in person.

The order states that all participants have to wear masks during the deposition, and that Newell must remove his mask when answering questions.

Wolfire Games filed an antitrust lawsuit against Valve in April 2021 for anti-competitive practices on Steam.

The filing centred around the 30% cut that the platform holder takes, with the developer arguing that Valve used "dominance to take an extraordinarily high cut from nearly every sale that passes through its store" and that it has used its position to "exploit publishers and consumers."

The claim was initially dismissed in November 2021, with a US District judge arguing that the complaint did "not articulate sufficient facts to plausibly allege an antitrust injury based on that market."

The document concluded that Wolfire Games could file another complaint addressing the highlighted issues, which it did in May 2022, as reported by Game Developer.

Article Link

Archive

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

The order states that all participants have to wear masks during the deposition, and that Newell must remove his mask when answering questions.

Who the fuck is still wearing masks in 2023?

 

[Breadbassket]

Who the fuck is still wearing masks in 2023?

I think there is a possibility Newell is really afraid of COVID or maybe just didn't want to do an in-person disposition since he lives in New Zealand if I recall correctly.

 

[frozen_runner]

I hadn't heard about this lawsuit, and I'm pretty surprised Wolfire is bringing it. I love their games (especially Receiver and Receiver 2), but I didn't imagine they had enough money to do something like this. All of their games are, at best, indie darlings.

Since I like their games, they're probably socialist assholes who I will start to hate now

 

[Breadbassket]

I hadn't heard about this lawsuit, and I'm pretty surprised Wolfire is bringing it. I love their games (especially Receiver and Receiver 2), but I didn't imagine they had enough money to do something like this. All of their games are, at best, indie darlings.

Here is a post where Wolfire Games explains their reasoning for the case:

Dear gamers and game developers,

I would like to explain why Wolfire Games is seeking to represent game developers in a class action suit against Valve Corporation. I felt that I had no choice, because I believe gamers and game developers are being harmed by Valve's conduct. While I am taking on significant personal risk, I am not doing this for personal gain. If there’s any monetary recovery, it will be distributed to all developers and gamers in the class.

I did not set out with the goal of suing Valve, but I have personally experienced the conduct described in the complaint. When new video game stores were opening that charged much lower commissions than Valve, I decided that I would provide my game "Overgrowth" at a lower price to take advantage of the lower commission rates. I intended to write a blog post about the results.

But when I asked Valve about this plan, they replied that they would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM. This would make it impossible for me, or any game developer, to determine whether or not Steam is earning their commission. I believe that other developers who charged lower prices on other stores have been contacted by Valve, telling them that their games will be removed from Steam if they did not raise their prices on competing stores.

While talking to other developers about problems that they were having with Steam, they kept referring to it as a "monopoly," and saying that there was nothing that we could do. I wondered, has anyone actually checked if Valve is obeying antitrust law? So I consulted with legal experts, which eventually culminated in the complaint.

As the dominant platform, when developers list their games on multiple PC stores, the majority of their sales will come through Steam. I believe this makes most developers afraid that if they don't sell on Steam, they will lose the majority of their revenue. To those developers, avoiding Steam would add unacceptable risk to the already high risk of game development in general. I believe that most developers have little or no choice but to sell on Steam and do as they're told by Valve.

I believe that businesses are free to do whatever they want within the law. However, once a company reaches a certain level of power over an entire market, the antitrust laws forbid those companies from distorting competition. I believe that Valve is taking away gamers' freedom to choose how much extra they are willing to pay to use their platform. I believe they are taking away competing stores' freedom to compete by taking advantage of their lower commission rates. I believe they are taking away developers' freedom to use different pricing models.

In my opinion, this is part of why all competing stores have failed. This suit insists that Valve stop interfering with pricing on other stores, and allow gamers and developers to make their own decisions. That’s why I joined the lawsuit.

Sincerely,
David Rosen

 

[Dynamite Bean]

Literally who

 

[Hitman One]

"yes thank you for attending Mr Gayben. Now if I can begin with the big question: where the FUCK is Half Life 3? May I remind you that you are under oath."

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

(((David Rosen)))

OK, it's about money.

"yes thank you for attending Mr Gayben. Now if I can begin with the big question: where the FUCK is Half Life 3? May I remind you that you are under oath."

"My next question is about Campo Santo, why did their next game get memoryholed and the developers are now working on Dota?"

 

[Iron Jaguar]

How are they going to force him to appear? - Summary judgement against if he doesn't?

 

[Hanged Man]

Literally who

Obligatory when Overgrowth or its devs are mentioned.

Spoiler: The work of one who consorts with beasts

 

[Coolio55]

I hadn't heard about this lawsuit, and I'm pretty surprised Wolfire is bringing it. I love their games (especially Receiver and Receiver 2), but I didn't imagine they had enough money to do something like this. All of their games are, at best, indie darlings.

Since I like their games, they're probably socialist assholes who I will start to hate now

Speaking of Receiver 2, it's such a strange fucking game. They made this incredibly realistic firearms simulation but seemed to be incredibly uncomfortable about it with multiple layers of indirection in play.
You are a cardboard cutout in a virtual reality fighting exclusively robots and also there's tons of out of place messaging about gun suicides everywhere.

Here is a post where Wolfire Games explains their reasoning for the case:

You know, I expected this suit to be BS but if that statement isn't a lie: Valve are definately in the wrong - contract or not.
E: Not necessarily legally wrong. I still don't think that this sort of price control is good though.

 

[frozen_runner]

Obligatory when Overgrowth or its devs are mentioned.

Spoiler: The work of one who consorts with beasts

View attachment 5521235

That's... unfortunate. The kid me would have loved Overgrowth because furries (and advances in graphical quality) hadn't yet ruined the idea of anthropomorphic animals. But I always wondered about it from afar, having never played it.

(Irony: Receiver was the result of a 3-day game jam that became an unexpected hit and, eventually, a franchise. Overgrowth was worked on for over a decade and never really worked like they wanted it to.)

Speaking of Receiver 2, it's such a strange fucking game. They made this incredibly realistic firearms simulation but seemed to be incredibly uncomfortable about it with multiple layers of indirection in play.
You are a cardboard cutout in a virtual reality fighting exclusively robots and also there's tons of out of place messaging about gun suicides everywhere.

It all feels strange because they created the basic concept, and the initial game, in a handful of days. Mechanical enemies were possible to create in a weekend, and they also function well in a game where "everything is made of modeled, moving parts" (the guns and the enemies) is part of the concept. Ditto for your reflection being a target stand-in: easy to design and render quickly.

So they expanded on the already-established concept with the sequel/remake.

 

[BMO_]

Here is a post where Wolfire Games explains their reasoning for the case:

Bullshit.
PUBG has (or, at least, had) a system where Russian players could buy the game on a Russian platform (mail.ru) for a lower price AND receive exclusive items for their characters AND play with Steam players. Valve gave 0 fucks about it.

 

[Mexican Molotov Marauder]

Obligatory when Overgrowth or its devs are mentioned.

Spoiler: The work of one who consorts with beasts

View attachment 5521235

I'm gonna need someone to explain this to me. Who are these people? What am I looking at? Is this what an aneurysm feels like?

 

[Blamo2000]

Newell had asked for a remote deposition due to concerns regarding COVID. However, the court said Newell has presented "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness" and, as a result, has been ordered to attend the deposition in person.

This made me wonder.

Gabe, is not in an enviable position. Valve is a hugely profitable company in private hands. It is not censored like social media. It is not owned by the same handful of investors like all the other companies. It is not pozzed like all the other companies. How is he still alive?

 

[Mr.Miyagi]

I'm gonna need someone to explain this to me. Who are these people? What am I looking at? Is this what an aneurysm feels like?

It's a Bayeux Tapestry meme retelling of the average /v/ thread when discussing the indie game Overgrowth. The usual replies being: Devs are furries/We're going to pirate it/Warhammer 40k references/Furry porn, and the Thread getting 404'd.

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

This made me wonder.

Gabe, is not in an enviable position. Valve is a hugely profitable company in private hands. It is not censored like social media. It is not owned by the same handful of investors like all the other companies. It is not pozzed like all the other companies. How is he still alive?

Who do you think's bankrolling this lawsuit probably the competitors of steam who mainly owned by the Chinese Communist party and woke retarded idiots .
Furries are not people the only person who's ever f***** me over dramatically in my life as a furry eventually did get back at that piece of s*** and now he's let's say no longer a problem but I have no respect for any furries they are universally dog s*** human beings

Also this lawsuit will go nowhere because steam is objectively not a monopoly

 

[Blamo2000]

Who do you think's bankrolling this lawsuit probably the competitors of steam who mainly owned by the Chinese Communist party and woke retarded idiots .
Furries are not people the only person who's ever f***** me over dramatically in my life as a furry eventually did get back at that piece of s*** and now he's let's say no longer a problem but I have no respect for any furries they are universally dog s*** human beings

Also this lawsuit will go nowhere because steam is objectively not a monopoly

I just hopes Gabe never dies, so I can enjoy my video games.

 

[oh no its pipkun]

how can steam have a monopoly when epic and itch exist?

 

[Blacklight]

I really don't see how this guy has a leg to stand on in a legal sense.

Steam isn't a monopoly. No one is stopping the devs from going onto the EGS or even developing their own launcher like EA did with origin or the Bethesda launcher or Blizzard.

The fact Steam has a lions share of the market is from offering an objectively amazing product.