"Although its unlikely a policy change this momentous would be made, Valve has a history of making changes based on court rulings it’s involved in."
Sooo...Valve has a history of changing its policies to follow the law?
Sooo...Valve has a history of changing its policies to follow the law?
The article isn't well written, but I believe the point is about Valve making the change worldwide, even though their legal obligation is just to do it in France (or possibly the EU).
> the high court ruled that, under European Union law, Steam customers have a right to be able to resell ‘dematerialised’ goods, i.e., digital games on Steam.
IANAL but while this is a French high court, they have clearly interpreted EU (not domestic) law, so I think it's safe to say that if Valve loses the appeal, or decides to change it regardless ahead of time, they likely won't take the unnecessary risk of not rolling it out across the EU.
That sucks; glad I'm in the US because I use that feature often. It's great for when friends ask for the photos I took of them.
In any case, I predict the Steam situation will differ because privacy and retail goods are valued differently. Americans are going to want that feature if Steam has to implement it, and they have options regarding what game store they use; it becomes a point of competitive advantage for Steam to switch it on in the States. They'll have to do the calculus on whether they lose more potential developers if they do vs. lose more potential store users if they don't.
TL;DR they got a big fine and also had to put a message on the storefront informing customers of their rights under Australian consumer law.