EU Charges Valve and 5 Game Publishers With Unfair 'Geo-Blocking' (venturebeat.com)

The European Commission charged Valve, the owner of a video distribution platform, and five game publishers on Friday with preventing EU consumers from shopping around within the European Union to find the best deal for the games they offer. From a report: The case is the latest move by EU antitrust regulators against cross-border curbs on online trade, key to what is seen as a major part of economic growth in the 28-country bloc. The Commission, which oversees competition policy in the 28 EU countries, said that the companies were Valve, the owner of the world's largest video game distribution platform 'Steam', and five game makers -- Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax. "In a true digital single market, European consumers should have the right to buy and play video games of their choice regardless of where they live in the EU," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. The Commission has sent what it calls a "statement of objections" to the companies, allowing them to reply and request hearings to present their arguments.

Comments

Re:Rising prices

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Unfortunately, this argument also seems to have only one conclusion under current EU rules: platforms like Netflix can't offer content anywhere in the EU unless they hold the relevant licences for everywhere in the EU.

This criticism, along with the pricing level problem I mentioned in another comment below, has been made repeatedly for about as long as the EU has been trying to establish a digital single market.

Re:Rising prices

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

The trouble with this sort of argument is that IP law is mostly made at a global scale through mechanisms like WIPO treaties. The EU might not have the ability to enforce arbitrary restrictions on IP and licensing like that.