This summons is part of the discovery, this American preparatory procedure allowing both plaintiffs and defendants to question the opposing party. Wolfire’s lawyers want to question Gaben directly, since being “uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of commercial strategy” from Valve. And they prefer to question him eye to eye because “only an in-person deposition would allow them to properly gauge Mr. Newell’s credibility“. Hence the summons.
A dark affair of big money
Until now, Gabe Newell requested a remote deposition, still fearing COVID-19. And it’s not a joke, a priori: the CEO of Valve had isolated himself in New Zealand in March 2020 to avoid the pandemic. He mentions in his request a “risk of serious illness if exposed to COVID-19“; argument which will not have convinced the district court of Washington, according to which it will be enough to mask the assistance and to respect the basic rules of hygiene to remain safe. The judicial institution seems convinced of the absolute necessity of a testimony in the flesh.
Regardless, the real news in this case is that we’re going to learn a lot about the economics of Steam through the trial. The 70/30 distribution of revenues has already been strongly criticized in the past, notably by the Epic Games Store, which has frequently touted its 88/12 distribution as a strong argument to attract studios. However, Wolfire will have to work harder to prove that Steam has a monopoly on PC, given the continued presence of the Xbox store, GOG and especially the Epic Games Store. Their complaint was rejected for the first time in November 2021 because it was not sufficiently substantiated.
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