this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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38
Video game giant Valve facing UK lawsuit over pricing, commissions (www.reuters.com)
submitted 3 days ago by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The legal action was brought by digital rights campaigner Vicki Shotbolt in 2024 on behalf of up to 14 million Steam users across the UK, who could be in line for compensation if she wins.

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[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 3 days ago (3 children)

They say Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they've bought that game through the platform, effectively "locking in" users to make purchases on its platform.

Is there a platform out there that allows dlc from other sources? It never occurred to me this was even a thing.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's only the case for digital storefronts. With physical media you've always been able to buy a base game from one place and an expansion pack from another.

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Oh that's fair, I was only thinking of digital storefronts. I didn't really get into pc gaming before distribution was predominantly digital.

[–] sakuraba@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

the only stores that could allow that are DRM-free like GOG

edit: to be clear, it's not that they allow it but you are free to install a DLC using an installer from other DRM-free sources

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That makes sense, it would definitely be easier if you didn't have to deal with DRM or launchers (like Steam and Epic, not the game launcher itself) getting in the way.

[–] sakuraba@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

You can try and it may work because a lot of games on Steam and Epic barely use the DRM.

I have portable installations of several games from Epic that I moved between Windows installs that just work by executing the game's binary

The issue with Steam is that some games do use the Steam DRM to verify additional content, but even there are ways to bypass that in two ways.

  1. The game files already include the DLC you just need Steam's license to activate. In this case you just need to crack the DLC.
  2. The game files do NOT include the DLC. In this case you could try installing the DLC from a DRM-free source or just copy the missing files from another installation. (This was a way to bypass the limitations of some demos using denuvo, mixed with a mod to bypass integrity checks)
[–] bryndos@fedia.io 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Is it even true?

I'd have thought if i find the right wine prefix, use some winetricks type thing on it, execute whatever installer, then it should modify that game files / env?

I'm not saying i've ever done it, but it feels like that would most likely work just fine.

I mean as a uk steaming turd, i'd take the cash ( so long as it didn't require age verification), but there are way more egregious infringements of competition in this cuntry that get off scott free even after CMA "investigations".

[–] Zoot@reddthat.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah for most steam dlc content you can just drag and drop it directly into the games folder, or where ever the dlc belongs an it'll just work. Unless it requires any online authentication, and I've seen games where unlocked DLC works anywhere

[–] sakuraba@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

yeah most games don't have any DRM related to DLC on Steam

DRM on steam most of the time is limited to the base game and sometimes you can just run the binary without Steam

Even on games with denuvo you can use tools to pirate DLC (I did this for SMTVV)