Vicki Shotbolt, the Proposed Class Representative, is a prominent campaigner for children’s digital rights and is working with the leading consumer advocacy and disputes law firm Milberg London LLP, and barristers Robert Palmer KC, Julian Gregory, and Will Perry (all of Monckton Chambers), to bring this claim. She will represent a significant class of UK users of the Steam gaming platform. Ms Shotbolt intends to file a collective action in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the coming weeks against Valve Corporation, one of the world’s largest digital distribution platforms for video games.

This opt out collective action is intended to seek remedies for affected consumers and promote a more competitive landscape in the gaming sector.    

Once filed, this will be the second opt out claim for the Milberg London team in the gaming sector, the first being its up to £5bn claim fronted by the Proposed Class Representative Alex Neill against Sony Playstation for its abuse of dominance. 

Natasha Pearman, Partner and Head of Competition Litigation at Milberg London said: “Our commitment to consumer rights and fair competition drives us to support Vicki to take this action against Valve Corporation. We believe that Valve has used its market power in a way which is detrimental to consumers and has led to them being overcharged for games and in-game content on the Steam platform.        

Competition law is there to protect consumers and the Collective Actions regime provides consumers with a voice and way of holding big companies to account. We’re delighted to be working with Vicki as we challenge the status quo and hold Valve to account for potential infringements of competition law and seek compensation for UK consumers.”

Additional information about the claim and how consumers can stay up to date with developments will follow soon.     ​​​​​Bench Walk Advisors is a leading litigation funder a team of multi award-winning finance professionals and litigators, who have achieved $30+ billion in settlements and judgments for claimants. Milberg London LLP is a leading consumer advocacy law firm that is a specialist litigation firm with experience in taking group action lawsuits, often against big companies who have broken the rules and harmed consumers.​​​​​​ Robert Palmer KC, Julian Gregory, and Will Perry are competition law barristers with substantial experience in opt-out collective proceedings claims. Berkeley Research Group (BRG) has been retained to provide economic analysis in relation to the claim, including assessing the effects of Valve’s conduct and resultant inflated prices paid by consumers in the digital gaming industry.