Apple has cited Valve in its ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games, demanding that it provide large amounts of commercial data on Steam sales and operations dating back several years, according to court records (via PC player).
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Apple initiated the subpoena in November 2020 on the grounds that information about Valve’s digital distribution service, Steam, would be crucial in defending Epic Games.
Apple requested that Valve provide documents to show its total annual sales of apps and in-app products, annual advertising revenue, annual sales of external products, and Steam’s annual revenue and earnings. There are also more detailed requests about the name of all Steam apps, the date range when all apps have been available, and the price of all apps and purchases from the app.
Apparently, this involved the demand for information on more than 30,000 games initially, but Apple has reduced its focus to about 600 games. Still, Apple continues to insist on receiving documents on each version of a particular product and a wealth of financial information about Valve’s business.
Apple believes that Steam “is the dominant digital game distributor on the PC platform and is a direct competitor to Epic Game Store,” so information on digital market sales and operations can show the market reach in what competes with the Epic Games store Apple argues that Valve should provide this information, as it is not available elsewhere and “poses no risk of competitive harm.”
Although Apple and Valve apparently met several times to confer, Valve has refused to produce much of the information Apple requests in the citation. Valve says it has collaborated to a reasonable extent, providing documents on revenue share, competition with Epic, Steam distribution contracts and more, but says the demand for video game sales and articles six years for hundreds of third-party games and confidential information about these games and Valve’s revenue is unreasonable.
The company also raised Apple’s request for Valve’s involvement in the case, as Steam is not a competitor in the mobile space, saying “Valve is not epic and Fortnite is not available on Steam.” Valve goes so far as to claim that Apple uses the application as a shortcut to a large amount of commercially sensitive third-party data.
Somehow, in a dispute over mobile apps, a PC game maker that doesn’t compete in the mobile market or sell “apps” is being portrayed as a key figure. It is not. The extensive and highly confidential information that Apple requests about a subset of PC games available on Steam does not show the size or parameters of the relevant market and it would be too heavy to put them together. Apple’s demands for increased production should be rejected.
Valve added that it doesn’t even keep all the information Apple is looking for, as it doesn’t need it in the ordinary course of business and is now asking the court to dismiss Apple’s subpoena. Meanwhile, Apple’s demand with Epic Games continues.