If you launched Steam within the last 24 hours, you may have seen a pop-up window asking you to accept the new Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA). Valve explained the changes in an official blog post on the Steam Community Forums. In particular, binding arbitration is no longer part of the SSA.
Binding arbitration is a requirement that disputes be resolved by a legal process outside of a court. These disputes are supervised by arbitrators instead of judges, and the arbitrators are compensated by the Company. You can imagine why conflicts of interest inherently exist (or why companies like them). Instead, the new SSA states that customers should first contact Steam Support to seek a resolution to their issue. If a resolution cannot be reached, the dispute will be referred to court rather than individual arbitration.
Although taking a company to court is not particularly noteworthy in itself, arbitration clauses have become widespread in recent years with an increase in terms of service agreements. Next time you download an app, join a website, or sign a contract for a new job, take a look at the contract. In many cases, you simply waive your right to sue.
The new SSA also eliminates class action exemptions that previously prohibited groups of similarly situated plaintiffs from filing lawsuits jointly, another major departure from other Terms of Service agreements.
Valve says these changes will have a “limited impact” in some regions, including the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Quebec. SSA’s arbitration requirements did not apply to these jurisdictions.
While these are positive developments for consumers, Steam strangely does not list the reasons for making these changes. We’ve reached out to a Steam representative for comment and will update if we hear back.
