Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, November 26 (Xinhua)-- Gabe Newell, founder and president of Valve, has been ordered by a federal court to testify in person in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit between Wolfire Games and Valve, so that plaintiffs can "fully assess" his credibility, according to Gamesindustry.biz.

The antitrust lawsuit, filed by independent game developer Wolfire Games in April 2021, alleges that Valve used its Steam platform to suppress competition in the PC game market while taking a "very high cut" from almost every sale in its store. According to CTOnews.com, Valve's share is 30% for sales of less than $10 million on the Steam platform, 25% for those between $10 million and $50 million, and 20% for those over $50 million.

The lawsuit was dismissed by the court in November 2021, but could be refiled, and Wolfire Games had 30 days to amend its petition to resolve the defects identified by the court. Wolfire Games did the same, and the lawsuit was reopened in May 2022.

As part of the ongoing evidence-gathering process, Wolfire Games's lawyers want to question Newell, arguing that Newell is "in a unique position to testify about all of the defendant's business strategies". And they want to be able to do it face to face, because "only by appearing in court in person can they fully assess Mr Newell's credibility".

Newell had previously asked to appear in court remotely, saying that "if he is infected with novel coronavirus, he is at risk of suffering from a serious illness", so "he has arranged his life to minimize the possible spread of novel coronavirus. According to Newell, even if the health measures proposed by the plaintiff are taken, appearing in court in person does not meet these guarantees."

Newell did take some measures to prevent himself from being exposed to the epidemic, and he spent a long time as a "COVID-19 refugee" in New Zealand in 2020-21. However, the court rejected his argument, saying that although novel coronavirus still posed a "continuing public health risk", Newell did not provide any sufficient evidence that he was more likely than the general public to develop a serious illness as a result of novel coronavirus, and even if he had such evidence, Wolfire Games's lawyers would have been "unfairly harmed" by appearing in court remotely because Newell had a unique understanding of the defendant's business strategy.

To address Newell's concerns, the court ordered that everyone in the courtroom must wear N95 or compatible masks when he appeared in court, but Newell himself must take them off when answering questions.

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