Submission + - Valve Pulls a Sony, Eliminates Right to Sue in Newest Steam Subscriber Update (pcgamer.com)
Valve has made some major changes to the Steam Subscriber Agreement, changing the way it handles customer disputes and banning any class action lawsuits over the service. In both cases, it informs us, this is for everyone’s own good – ours as customers, and Valve’s as a company.
The specific paragraph from [Valve's] blog post goes like this:
“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. 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.”
Considering the decidedly less-than-noble motivations of others whose practices Valve is emulating (I'm looking at you, Sony... you too, EA), this submitter finds that statement dubious at best, as well as wondering what recourse, if any, current Steam subscribers will have to avoid being forced to either agree to get screwed, or lose access to our games.