Gabe Newell has been ordered to testify in person at a Steam anti-trust lawsuit
Newell had hoped to provide a remote deposition due to COVID-19 concerns.
Valve boss Gabe Newell has been ordered to appear in court as part of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games.
As first reported by our friends at GamesIndustry.biz, Wolfire Games – which filed the order earlier this month – brought an antitrust lawsuit against the megacorp back in 2021. Whilst Newell requested a remote deposition due to health concerns, admitting he has "structured his life to minimise exposure to possible COVID-19 transmission", Wolfire insists that there is "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness" and wants him there in person.
Wolfire further asserts that Newell needs to attend in person because it believes he is "uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy", and the company wants to "adequately assess Newell's credibility".
Wolfire Games has taken umbrage with the fact Valve takes 30 per cent of all sales on its PC platform, stating Valve is using its market "dominance" to take "an extraordinarily high cut from nearly every sale that passes through its store" which "exploit[s] publishers and consumers" alike.
Wolfire's original claim was dismissed in November 2021, but it was able to file a further complaint in May 2022.
Valve recently suggested we didn't hold our collective breath for Steam Deck 2.0 anytime soon, as the technology to launch a handheld with an adequately beefy jump in power just doesn't yet exist.
Speaking to Eurogamer ahead of this week's Steam Deck OLED announcement, Valve engineers discussed the features it is adding to its shinier new handheld model that were not possible to provide back when the original Steam Deck debuted.
The company also said it was working on game projects - plural - right now, which were still targeting current Steam Deck hardware performance levels (which remain unchanged in the OLED).