Valve summoned to court at Apple vs. Epic Games

If the App Store collects high fees, Fortnite developer Epic Games sued Apple. However, in the court battle between Apple and Epic Games, Valve, which provides Steam, a PC game sales platform, was summoned and attracted attention.

In a filing filed with the Northern District Court of California in the third week of February, it was revealed that Apple was asking Valve to submit bulk data on PC game sales as data in its court battle against Epic Games. In contrast, Valve refuses to submit some data, saying that this information is proprietary and has nothing to do with Apple’s case, and that it is difficult, such as costly preparation of the data.

Valve’s refusal to submit is roughly divided into two. The first is the annual sales of products in apps and apps, annual advertising revenue on Steam, annual sales of external products derived from Steam, annual income in Steam, and annual sales on Steam. The second is the name of each application on Steam, the date range that the mouth became available on Steam, and the application and app prices available on Steam.

Regarding the provision of information other than these two, Valve submitted data in accordance with the subpoena. However, because the submitted data is largely edited, Apple says it cannot identify information that may be included, suggesting that the data is not being used properly.

The reason why Apple asked Valve to provide data on Steam is that it can be an economical alternative to the App Store for iOS and is important for establishing other platforms. Explain that it is important for calculating the sum.

On the other hand, Valve said the company couldn’t compete in the mobile market, such as developing and selling games for mobile devices and tablets. By saying that it clearly expresses that it is not, it is arguing that the court struggle, Valve, and Steam are completely irrelevant.

Apple is criticizing Valve for refusing to submit some data, saying that Valve acknowledges that the requested information is private but exists in a form that can be accessed immediately. Meanwhile, Valve said it needed to do overwhelming amounts of work, according to the subpoena, which puts a burden on Valve. It is argued that there is no reason to be forced into such a burden for an irrelevant court struggle.

In the past, Apple requested Samsung Electronics to submit data related to sales of the same type, and it is said that it was forced to submit data by a court order at the time. In this case, it is argued that the same mandate should be applied to the valve. However, Valve refutes Apple’s claim, saying that Apple, Google, and Samsung Electronics are competing in the mobile app market, but Valve is not competing in the mobile app market.

It also explained that Valve does not pollute sales-related information such as sales because of its competitive advantage with PC game sales platforms such as Epic Games. We are concerned that submitting data under this subpoena will provide considerable information to Epic Games, which operates a PC game sales platform.

Apple also says that the information that can be submitted by this request does not include a strategic assessment because it does not describe future plans. In other words, there is no competitive or economic risk to the valve. Related information can be found here .