Valve allegedly threatened to remove Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege from Steam after Ubisoft offered the game’s starter pack for $15 on its UPlay platform, below Steam’s price [1, 2, 3].

The allegations surfaced through emails disclosed in a monopoly lawsuit, which show Valve warning publishers that games could be delisted if sold cheaper on competing digital storefronts [1, 2, 3]. A Valve business development employee stated, "Steam’s policy has always been to require material parity for things we sell on the Steam Store," suggesting a pricing parity enforcement [2]. However, Valve employees have denied any formal pricing parity or "most favored nation" policy. Kassidy Gerber, a Valve business team member, said, "I don’t really know what you mean by 'policy.' In general, I don't feel like we have a lot of policies. That sounds kind of bureaucratic to me" [1].

The emails also revealed similar threats against Warner Bros. Interactive in 2017. Valve reportedly removed pre-orders of Middle-earth: Shadow of War from Steam after the publisher set higher prices than other retailers [1, 3]. Kassidy Gerber notified Warner Bros. that pre-orders were delisted due to their pricing. Warner Bros. Interactive president David Haddad reached out to Valve to resolve the dispute [1, 3].

Valve faces a $900 million class-action lawsuit filed in January 2026 alleging it abused its Steam platform monopoly by enforcing a 30% commission and restricting publishers from pricing games cheaper on rival storefronts [1, 2]. The lawsuit cites evidence including emails and testimony of Valve’s pricing threats as anticompetitive behavior [1, 2]. Valve has denied the existence of a formal pricing parity policy despite the evidence [1, 2, 3].

Additional legal challenges include a February 2026 lawsuit by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James concerning Valve’s loot box policies, which Valve responded to through March and May 2026 [1].

The case continues as courts review the $900 million monopoly lawsuit and related antitrust claims against Valve’s digital storefront practices.