French high court rules against Steam's digital game reselling policy

The Tribunal de grande instance de Paris has ruled against Steam in favour of UFC-Que Choisir’s case against it. 

In 2015, the consumer rights group took Valve to court for preventing players from reselling games bought on Steam. They also added other violations like Steam's policy against users selling their accounts. 

The high court finally made its ruling on Tuesday, stating that under European Union law, Steam users have a right to resell ‘dematerialised’ goods such as digital games. Reddit user Shacken-Wan translated the report which first appeared on French website, Next Inpact

Valve's argument was that it sells game licenses which are essentially subscriptions, but the court disagreed. Since customers have indefinite access after buying digital games and don't pay a subscription fee, they can't be treated as such. The court also called Steam's policy against selling accounts a limit on user rights. 

Given just one month to comply and post the whole court ruling on all of Steam's portals, Valve faces a daily fine if it doesn't. For up to six months, the company will have to pay €3,000 if it doesn't comply. 

According to PC Gamer, Valve plans to appeal the ruling, which will also prevent it from coming into effect until the appeal proceedings are concluded. Policy changes of this magnitude could put a big dent in Steam's revenue, so it makes sense that Valve will exhaust every legal option it has to counter it.