Valve, the gaming giant, is facing trouble in Australia for not offering refunds to its Steam customers from the country. The Federal Court found Steam breached the Australian Consumer Laws and fined the gaming distributor with $3 million. The maximum fine was imposed by the court as requested by Australia's competition regulator due to Valve's disregard for the Australian Law.
Valve Faces The Consequences Of Their Actions Back In 2014
It was 2014 when the trouble between Valve and Australian government started after it was discovered that Steam, its digital games distribution service, was not offering refunds to its customers. This led to a court case between the gaming company and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Eventually, the ACCC won the case earlier this year.
Valve Suggested $250,000 But The Court 12 Times More
After the decision of the court, Valve has suggested imposing $250,000 as a fair penalty. However, the court disagreed and enforced $3 million fine. The justice of the court even reacted to Valve suggestion by saying that a $250,000 fine is not a real cost of doing business and would barely be noticed.
Valve Admitted They Didn't Seek Legal Advice Before Launching In Australia
During the process of the case, Valve admitted their mistake. Valve's general counsel, Karl Quackenbush, said to the court that they did not seek legal advice before setting up in Australia. It has only come to their awareness when the government got involved and reacted in April 2014. This lack of attention and interest to the Australian Law led Justice Edelman to impose a 12 times more the Valve offered.
Justice Edelman wrote in his judgment, that despite being a US company with 2.2 million Australian accounts which received 21,124 tickets in the relevant period containing the word "refund" from consumers with Australian IP addresses, Valve still lacks the interest to study Australian law as if they are not under the country's jurisdiction. Justice Edelman added that even if a legal advice was obtained, still, the advice might have been ignored. Valve was reported to have also faced trouble with a different company this year.
