Valve found guilty of breaching Australian Consumer Law

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After an 18-month battle, the Federal Court has ruled that Valve was in breach of Australian consumer law.

The competition watch dog found that Valve, via Steam, “engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading representations to Australian consumers about the consumer guarantees.”

A year and a half ago the ACCC took umbrage that Valve didn’t have a refund policy, which is something you need under Australian Consumer law.

One has been implemented since but that doesn’t cover the period and issues back in 2014 when the case was initially filed.

Now losing their argument that Valve didn’t in fact operate from Australia which absolved them of needing the policy they’ll have to foot up to 65% of the ACCC’s legal bill and potential damages.

The actual costs will be decided in a hearing set for April 15th.

Source: The ACCC finds Valve breached Australian Consumer Law | Asia Pacific games industry news | MCV Pacific