The Australian Federal Court has just released its findings following an 18 month proceeding into Valve’s business practices in Australia, brought to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC’s case was that the Steam Subscriber Agreement contained articles that were fundamentally illegal under Australian law, especially in relation to game refunds and warranties. Steam now has an official refund policy, but didn’t in 2014 when the ACCC began its case.
Valve’s defence was that the agreement was correct under Washington State Law, where Steam operates from, and further argued that Steam only provided a service, not actual goods, in Australia. In effect, Valve believed that Steam was exempt from Australian consumer protections.
The official verdict, however, is that Steam does in fact do business in Australia, and…
