Wolfire and Dark Catt's antitrust lawsuit against Valve granted class action status
Legal dispute between studios and Steam firm originally began in 2021
Wolfire Studios and Dark Catt Studios have been granted class action status for their continuing legal dispute with Valve.
A court document seen by GamesIndustry.biz shows their motion for class certification was granted by United States District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead. It transforms the antitrust lawsuit from being two developers versus the company behind Steam into a potentially much larger dispute.
According to the document, the class action will apply to any developers, publishers or individuals who paid a commission to Valve in connection with a game sale – referring to the 30% cut the Steam firm takes from each purchase – on or after January 28, 2017.
In the same order, the judge denied Valve's request to exclude the testimony of an expert, a Dr. Steven Schwartz, whom the two studios called to argue their case.
Both Wolfire Studios and Dark Katt will be the class representatives for the action.
Overgrowth developer Wolfire originally filed an antitrust lawsuit against Valve back in April 2021, claiming the company's 30% commission – which it described as "an extraordinarily high cut" – constitutes anti-competitive practices. It also argued that Valve uses its dominance to "exploit publishers and consumers."
This claim was initially dismissed in November 2021, but the developer updated and adapted its arguments before refiling in May 2022.
Meanwhile, multimedia production and VR game developer Dark Catt Studios filed its own antitrust suit against Valve in June 2021. This was partly dismissed in November 2021, but Dark Catt was able to continue with some of its claims.
A court order issued in July 2022 confirmed the two cases would be consolidated into one.