Valve Loses EU Fight Over €1.6 Million Fine for Geoblocking

Valve Corp. lost a European Union court challenge against a €1.6 million ($1.7 million) fine for thwarting the sale of certain PC video games across European borders.

The European Commission fined Valve and five publishers for contractually hampering the cross-border sale of PC video games based on the users’ geographic location — a practice known as geoblocking.

The EU General Court, the bloc’s second-highest tribunal, on Wednesday rejected the appeal and backed the commission’s findings that the companies’ actions had “unlawfully restricted cross-border sales” of games.

Valve is the owner of Steam, one of the world’s largest online PC video ...