Valve Ordered To Comply With Apple Subpoena For Steam Sales Data

It looks like Valve will have no choice but to hand over their data and cooperate with Apple in their ongoing legal dispute with Epic Games no matter how tedious the task is.

According to Law360, California magistrate judge Thomas Hixon has ordered the company to provide the Steam sales, pricing, and other data requested by Apple in a subpoena filed last November.

Valve earlier moved to quash the subpoena, claiming that the request was “too heavy a burden” considering that they weren’t part of the dispute and that Apple hasn’t shown “substantial need” for the data requested.

Hixon ruled otherwise during a hearing on Zoom but narrowed down the scope of the requested data to only include sales data of games from 2017 to the present instead of 2015. He further offered Valve consolation saying that, “Apple has salted the earth with subpoenas, so don't worry, it's not just you.”

The trial is scheduled for May this year. Meanwhile, Epic Games is fighting back by lobbying for a bill to control the monopoly of big tech companies in North Dakota.