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Valve has lawsuit-proofed themselves somewhat. Today, the company announced that it has updated its Steam Subscriber Agreement (you know, that fine print that everyone starting up a Steam account sees but never reads) so that now it can block users from bringing class action lawsuits against it. This means users can only bring individual complaints should something Steam-related go wrong.

The reasons, Valve explains, are as follows: "It's clear to us that in some situations, class actions have real benefits to customers. In far too many cases however, class actions don't provide any real benefit to users and instead impose unnecessary expense and delay, and are often designed to benefit the class action lawyers who craft and litigate these claims."

"Class actions like these do not benefit us or our communities," Valve adds. "We think this new dispute resolution process is faster and better for you and Valve while avoiding unnecessary costs, and that it will therefore benefit the community as a whole."

Additionally, the new agreement comes with a new process for resolving situations that Valve itself cannot fix. If normal customer support cannot solve a problem, the company will then use an arbitration or small claims court.

"In the arbitration process, Valve will reimburse your costs of the arbitration for claims under a certain amount. Reimbursement by Valve is provided regardless of the arbitrator's decision, provided that the arbitrator does not determine the claim to be frivolous or the costs unreasonable."

In doing this, Valve joins a group of companies (which include Sony and Microsoft) where the customers cannot bring class action lawsuits against them. Is this something that you guys think should be adopted by more companies? Let us know.

Source: Steam

Via: GameInformer

Peter Grimm A writer, journalist, and aspiring storyteller, Peter Grimm has been gaming since the days of the Nintendo 64, and reporting on the goings-on in the World of Gaming since late 2011. His base of writing operations is located within the void between Here and There, or so he would have you think.

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