As of today, millions of Steam users woke up with a new notice from Valve, saying that the Steam Subscriber Agreement has been updated, removing a requirement that disputes must go to arbitration rather than court. If you have a dispute that isn’t solved via Steam Support, you are now required to take the company to federal or state court. According to legal experts, this is a huge win for Steam users, although most who have a dispute would never take Valve to court. In most situations, consumers are required to arbitrate and not sue after accepting agreements, especially in the United States.
For a long time, Valve forced any dispute into arbitration, which is when a third party reviews the issue to try and resolve it outside of the legal system. This new update from Valve also removes the class-action waiver, meaning that class-action lawsuits from a party with the same complaint are now able to proceed.
In a news release, Valve stated, “We’ve eliminated the requirement that disputes be resolved by individual arbitration. As always, we encourage you to contact Steam Support when you have any issues, as that will nearly always be the best way to reach a solution. But if that doesn’t work, the updated SSA now provides that any disputes are to go forward in court instead of arbitration. We’ve also removed the class action waiver, as well as the cost and fee-shifting provisions, that were in prior versions of the SSA.”
This is a pretty groundbreaking decision to make, as most service agreements do contain an arbitration clause. Although it’s not been stated why Valve has gone ahead and changed their Steam Subscriber Agreement, it is possible that it has to do with the case of Jeffrey Piccolo suing Disney after his wife died during an allergic reaction after dinner. However, Disney responded to the lawsuit by saying that Piccolo “waived his right to sue when he signed up for a Disney+ streaming account in 2019 and when he used the Disney World website in 2023.” With how this particular case was received by the public, it led Disney to backpedal, allowing the suit to continue in court.
Whether the choices made by both Disney and Valve will cause more companies to follow suit remains to be seen, but it is entirely possible that more companies will begin to change their arbitration clauses. However, it is unlikely, as most companies will want to settle out of court and avoid the legal process if possible.
