Nintendo also announced additional sales numbers, including the first official numbers for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit:
Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 9.13 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 8.68 million
Super Mario 3D All-Stars – 8.32 million
Paper Mario: The Origami King – 3.05 million
Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 2.62 million
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – 2.84 million (excluding Japan)
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – 1.48 million
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit – 1.08 million
More than 532.34 million Switch games have been sold worldwide.
Article From & Read More ( Switch worldwide sales top 79.87 million, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity tops 2.84 million in the west - Gematsu )
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Apple has released an official extension for the Windows and Mac versions of Chrome that lets you use passwords stored in your iCloud Keychain. For anyone who uses Chrome as their browser and iCloud Keychain in lieu of a dedicated password manager, this could make bouncing between Windows and Mac computers much easier.
The release of the extension means that if you’ve used Safari to automatically generate strong passwords on other platforms, those can now be available to you in Chrome when you’re prompted for a login. Passwords created in Chrome for Windows will also sync back to iCloud so they’ll be available on Apple devices as well.
The extension is called iCloud Passwords and is available now in the Chrome Web Store. Details of the functionality were prematurely revealed last week in an update for the iCloud Windows 10 app, which listed “Support for iCloud Passwords Chrome Extension” as a new feature, despite the extension not having been released or otherwise announced.
The Galaxy Z Fold3 might look like this. (Source: Twitter)
The next generation of Samsung's flexible premium phablet is likely to be called the Galaxy Z Fold3. The leaker Ben Geskin has produced new images to show how this device might look according to the latest leaks and rumors. They point to it having rear cameras like those of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, although the rest is much unchanged compared to 2020.
Samsung is currently rumored to expand its foldable offerings in 2021, as it would reportedly like to stay ahead in this field rather than be overtaken by rumored new entries from other companies that might range from Xiaomi to Apple. They may take on new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold series, which, according to Ben Geskin, will take on their maker's latest premium design language.
This involves an enlarged, frame-hugging camera hump quite like that found on the new S21 Ultra candy-bar flagship. It suggests Geskin thinks (or may have heard) the Galaxy Z Fold3 will get the same elaborate imaging system, 108MP main shooter, laser autofocus and all.
The new image mirrors earlier indications that Samsung's other type of foldable, the Galaxy Z Flip, will upgrade to vanilla S21 cameras in its own new iteration. Otherwise, the "new Z Fold" may look more or less like its predecessor, with a secondary screen that dominates one whole "leaf" of the rear panel and a main folding display of at least 7.6 inches in diagonal length.
One or both of these panels are rumored to have Samsung's first under-display selfie cameras (or UDCs) instead of central punch-holes, which may be why Geskin's new render includes no hint of front-facing shooters. Finally, the leaker refers to this concept as the "Galaxy Z Fold 3 Ultra", which hints at a new (and probably especially expensive) tier for this line of foldables in 2021.
There is little other evidence that Samsung really plans to augment the Z Fold line in this way in 2021. On the other hand, it might also release up to 4 new foldables this year, some of which are said to be "more affordable". However, they might now wind up being cheaper only when compared to this putative Z Fold3 Ultra.
The new hypothetical top-end phone could also be the only one with S Pen support, as Geskin has popped one into his latest image. Then again, he also predicts there will be no Galaxy Note-esque silo in the foldable, and that the stylus might just clip onto it as it does in the Galaxy Tab S7/S7+. Then again, there is no sign of any kind of corresponding magnetic attachment strip in the image.
Apple has paid over $25 million for the rights to upcoming movie "CODA," setting a new Sundance Film Festival acquisition record, reports Deadline.
Directed and written by Siân Heder, "CODA" stars actress Emilia Jones as Ruby, the only hearing individual in her deaf family. As her high school years come to an end, Ruby is torn between staying at home to help family or heading off to college to pursue her dreams.
Deadline reports that a "pitched battle" between Apple and Amazon took place for the film's worldwide rights. The $25+ million deal set a new record for a film acquisition at this year's virtual Sundance Film Festival, beating last year's $22.5 million acquisition from Hulu/Neon for the film "Palm Springs."
Apple TV+ has been available for free since November 2019 for those who purchased an eligible Apple device in September 2019 or later. Apple recently announced plans to extend all Apple TV+ free trials until July 2021, giving the company more time to present original content to viewers.
Apple TV+ is priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year in the United States, but Apple is currently crediting paid subscribers as well.
People tend to vegetables growing in a field as emission rises from cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Tongling, Anhui province, China, on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019.
Bloomberg
Elon Musk is going to pay $100 million towards a prize to come up with the best carbon capture technology. (Or so he tweets. Details are scarce so far.)
The maverick tech CEO's promise is not particularly notable for its generosity. With a net worth over $200 billion, $100 million is 0.05% of Musk's wealth.
But still, the richest person in the world's tweet brings attention to an often overlooked technology which has been around since the 1970s, but has mostly been relegated to niche corners of the energy community.
"Mr. Musk's announcement reflects a maturation in the private sector around climate change and investment," Julio Friedmann, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, tells CNBC via email. "As in the past, Mr. Musk's announcement has shaken up the gumball machine."
Why not just plant more trees?
One popular reaction to Musk's tweet was that he would be better to spend his money planting trees. Trees, like other plants, consume carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis and release oxygen. There is an international initiative, 1t.org, which aims to restore and grow one trillion trees by 2030 to mitigate climate change. The trillion trees campaign is run by the World Economic Forum and funded by the Marc R. Benioff Foundation, an eponymous philanthropic effort funded by the billionaire Salesforce CEO.
"Addressing climate change will require investment in technologies that help to limit future emissions, such as electric vehicles, and also the drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere. Nature based solutions can help with both of these, but we will need thousands of solutions in combination," says Tom Crowther, a tenure-track professor of Global Ecosystem Ecology at ETH Zürich and the chief scientific advisor to the United Nation's Trillion Tree Campaign. "There is huge potential for direct carbon capture technology as part of a diverse climate plan," Crowther tells CNBC from Switzerland via email.
So does Musk. In response to one tweet recommending tree-planting, Musk said trees "are part of the solution, but require lots of fresh water & land. We may need something that's ultra-large-scale industrial in 10 to 20 years."
Carbon capture from factory emissions: Where it stands
There are currently 21 large-scale CCUS commercial projects around the globe where carbon dioxide is taken out of factory emissions, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental energy organization. The first one was set up in 1972.
It wasn't until the 1980s that carbon capture technology was studied for climate mitigation efforts, but even then, it was "mainly lone wolves," Herzog says. By the 1990s "activity really ramped up," he says.
One part of the carbon capture project at Archer Daniels Midland Company in Decatur, Illinois.
Photo courtesy Archer Daniels Midland Company
For factory carbon-capture, emissions are routed through a vessel with a liquid solvent which essentially absorbs the carbon dioxide. From there, the solvent has to be heated up in a second tower — called a "stripper" or "regenerator" — to remove the CO2, where it's then routed for underground storage. The solvent can then be re-used in the first vessel or tower, Herzog says.
If the storing is done carefully, "you should be okay," Herzog says. "We don't have experience on the scale we want to go to," Herzog says, "but we've demonstrated you could do it correctly."
The U.S. Department of Energy is on the case, "developing models that simulate the flow of stored carbon dioxide, to help understand and predict chemical changes and effects of increased pressure that may occur."
Carbon capture from the air: Where it stands
In terms of reversing global climate change, there's already been too much carbon released into the atmosphere for us not to try and capture carbon and store it, says Klaus Lackner, the director of Center for Negative Carbon Emissions and professor at Arizona State University.
"The question of whether you want to store or not to store [carbon] was a very good question in 1980," Lackner tells CNBC. "But you needed to have this discussion 30, 40 years ago because back then you still had a chance to stop the train before we collide with something."
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is tracked as in parts per million, or PPM. As of December, atmospheric carbon dioxide stands at 414.02 ppm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"We started the industrial revolution with 280 parts per million in the atmosphere," Lackner tells CNBC. "By now we have 415 [ppm], and we are going up 2.5 ppm a year at this moment." The consequences of that rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are already dire and will get worse. "The oceans have started to rise, hurricanes have gotten way worse, climate has become more extreme, and this will only get worse over the next decade," Lackner says.
The only choice, Lackner says, is to "draw down" the atmospheric carbon dioxide — or to suffer unknown, devastating consequences.
Capturing carbon from the air, not from a factory smokestack, is called "direct air capture," and there are currently 15 direct air capture plants in Europe, the United States and Canada, according to the IEA. "Carbon removal is expected to play a key role in the transition to a net-zero energy system," the IEA says, but currently it is a very expensive technology.
Direct air capture is "very expensive because the CO2 in the atmosphere is only .04%," Herzog tells CNBC, and the technical process of removing carbon dioxide from a gas gets more expensive the lower the concentration of the carbon dioxide gets. "But it is very seductive. A lot of people jumped on this," he says.
Lackner sees it as a necessity. "In the end I see CO2 as a waste management problem. We have for two centuries simply dumped the waste from energy production — which is carbon dioxide — in the atmosphere and not thought about it any further, and we are gradually waking up to the fact that that's not acceptable," Lackner says.
The future of carbon capture technology
The technology exists to capture carbon and there is a grave need for climate change to be mitigated. So why isn't it being used everywhere already?
The problem is economics, says Herzog. "It's cheaper to put [carbon dioxide] in the atmosphere. It is cheaper to let it go up the smokestack then put this chemical plant on the back of the smokestack to remove it," Herzog says. "Who is going to pay for that?"
To change that reality, there must be economic costs to releasing carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere.
"The best capture technology will reduce these costs, but it will never be zero. Hence, even the best carbon capture technology will be useless if the world is not willing to put a price on carbon," Berend Smit, a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, at the University of California, Berkeley, tells CNBC by email. His research focuses on finding the optimal material for carbon capture.
In the meantime, scientists and researchers are working to make current carbon capture technologies better.
"Over the past 10 years, there are a number of innovations and improvements to enable us to save more energy and cost up to 70% less for new carbon capture processes," Paitoon (P.T.) Tontiwachwuthikul, a professor of industrial and process systems engineering at the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a co-founder of the Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute University of Regina, tells CNBC by email. "These include novel solvents (and their mixtures) as well as new process hardware items (e.g. new columns, catalysts, etc.)."
Smit is also working on how to use a kind of sponge "with a strong affinity for carbon dioxide," he says. "Hence if we flow air through the sponge, the CO2 gets removed. One the material is saturated with CO2, we need to heat it, pure CO2 comes out, which we can then store. The sponge is empty and we can start over again."
An artist's impression of a mechanical tree farm.
Image courtesy Silicon Kingdom Holdings Ltd.
Lackner has developed a free-standing device to take carbon dioxide out of the air. "Everybody's machine out there right now, they are sucking carbon dioxide or pushing carbon dioxide with fans and blowers ... we think that the wind alone is good enough to move the air around and our design aims to just be passively standing in the wind, just like a tree." While the technology has been demonstrated on campus, it's still in its infancy.
Fundamentally, it all comes down to money. "You need regulatory frameworks where basically, if you want to dig up carbon, you better show that you put an equal amount away," Lackner says. "If you have a cheaper way by all means do it first. if you don't have a cheaper way, you have no excuse because this one will work."
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A thousand years ago, back in 2019, a regional councilor in the Netherlands named Marcel Steeman undertook a seemingly impossible challenge: convince the makers of one of the most popular toys in the world to do something a little different.
He wanted Lego, the toy production company based in Billund, Denmark, to add bike lanes to their tiny, brick-made cities.
For years, the streets in Lego’s city sets — once called base plates — had space for cars, people, even tiny storm drains, but no designated lanes for zero-emission, human-powered vehicles like bikes. Even worse, it appeared that Lego’s streets had become more hostile toward pedestrians and cyclists over time. As compared to Lego sets from years ago, the cars seem to have grown larger — evolving from four- to six-studs wide — and the roads appeared to be getting wider, while the sidewalks were getting more and more narrow.
“It really stood out that Lego City is such a car centered city,” Steeman told me in an email.
Steeman’s idea caught the attention of Marco te Brommelstroet, an associate professor in urban planning at the University of Amsterdam who tweets under the name Cycling Professor. And one of Brommelstroet’s tweets caught my attention, prompting me to write a story that asked the question, “Where are the bike lanes in Lego world?”
But as the idea gained more traction on social media, Lego stayed frustratingly silent. And Steeman’s posts to Lego’s Ideas site kept getting rejected. “I’ve tried several times,” he said. “Sometimes [they were rejected] without reason, one time with the reason it was just a political statement and not a set, and that really confused me.”
Several people who were supportive of Steeman’s idea of adding bike lanes to Lego’s streetscape tried contacting the company, but to no avail. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment to my original story, nor to this most recent one.)
Meanwhile, Steeman and Brommelstroet continued to dig into Lego’s history and discovered that back in the 1980s and 90s, the company did produce street plates with small bike lanes painted green. But eventually the lanes vanished, and in the years to follow the roads got bigger, and the Lego cars grew from four-studs wide, to six studs, to eight studs.
Not only that, but they learned that the absence of bike lanes may have something to do with Lego’s supply chain. Thalia Verkade, a journalist who was collaborating on a book about mobility with Brommelstroet, discovered that Lego used a subcontractor for the road plates, which were among the last pieces that were made by a company other than Lego itself. According to Verkade, Lego was trying to buy out the contract to return production of the street plates to their own facilities, Steeman said.
Around the same time, Matthew Ashton, an official Lego Master, hinted in a tweet that some new form of roads would be coming to Lego’s city sets “in the not too distant future.” “A cliffhanger,” Steeman said.
All the while, Steeman was working at his job as a regional councilor for the province of Northern Holland, where he regularly tackles issues related to mobility. When the pandemic hit, Steeman shifted to working from home, sharing his home’s third floor with his 9-year-old son and all his Legos. “There’s Lego everywhere,” he said, “and I need to tilt my camera upwards to save face in the many digital meetings I have for my work.”
Right before the pandemic, Steeman caught wind of rumors of that Lego was going to revolutionize its road system by using adjustable sets and actual bricks, not just the big flat plates, as a way of playing with road designs. That would allow the inclusion of pedestrian crossings and speed bumps — and perhaps bike lanes?
Those redesigned street sets (#60304) were finally released last year, along with a small shopping district (#60306) that included a pretzel store, a sporting goods shop, a crosswalk, a couple streetlights, and — at long last — a thin blue bike lane.
Steeman was shocked, but rather than rest on his laurels, he immediately he took stock of all the ways this updated streetscape still fell short of what he really wanted. The bike lane was small, like really small, only two-studs wide, barely enough room for a cargo bike. Also, the box art depicted a bucket truck parked in the middle of the bike lane. Nonetheless, he chalked it up as a “small victory,” and got back to work promoting his idea for a wider, more accommodating bike lane.
He generated a new rendering of his idea using the new road plates as a foundation. He also added some bike racks, a bike with a child’s seat, and most importantly, big, wide, blue bike lanes. He chose blue as the color, knowing that’s the color used in Billund and around Denmark, where Lego is based. Bike lanes are painted red in his native Holland, so as to prevent people from mistaking them for the water in the canals.
Reluctantly, Steeman uploaded his new rendering to Lego’s Ideas website, anticipating another rejection. But instead, he got another major shock. “To my surprise the idea was accepted within a day,” he said. It was published on the Lego website and now Steeman can try to garner enough support to make it into a real set.
Lego gave him 60 days to get 100 supporters; he did it in 4 hours. Now he has a little more than a year to get 10,000 supporters. The odds are against him — remember, only 33 ideas have ever been accepted — but he’s confident it can be done. And if he doesn’t, he knows that the seed has already been planted with Lego’s designers. A thin blue bike lane can eventually grow into something much larger and safer from the smiling denizens of Legoland. Anything is possible.
“In the end, I just want a worldwide generation to grow up with a sustainable, healthy and above all safe alternative to the car-centered world we live in,” Steeman said. “And there is actually no bigger city on earth to start that revolution than Lego City.”
He added, “So Lego was probably a bit right when they said it was a political statement.”
I’ve been writing for Android Authority since 2017. When I first started as a freelancer, my daily driver was the OnePlus 5. Later on, after I became a full staff member, I got a OnePlus 6T. Today, I’m using the OnePlus 7 Pro. Due to my devotion to OnePlus (and the 7 Pro, in particular), I’m known as the “OnePlus guy” on our team. However, the Samsung Galaxy S21 has put that nickname in jeopardy.
I won’t mince words, here. OnePlus had a very bad 2020. Things started out okay with the OnePlus 8 series, especially the OnePlus 8 Pro. Unfortunately, more problems than successes followed. The disappointing OnePlus Nord N10 and N100, Carl Pei’s departure, the Facebook controversy, and the steady Oppo-ification of the brand all made it very difficult to be proud about being the “OnePlus guy.”
Now, with my beloved OnePlus 7 Pro getting old and the company dragging its feet when it comes to an Android 11 rollout, I am tempted to switch teams. With the launch of the Galaxy S21 series, the temptation has grown substantially. In fact, I will admit that I pre-ordered both a vanilla Samsung Galaxy S21 and a Galaxy S21 Plus. My intention is to try them both out and see if ditching OnePlus really is what I want to do.
Samsung Galaxy S21: Why I would switch
Credit: David Imel / Android Authority
Samsung really upped its game this year with the Galaxy S21 series. The designs look great, the lowered pricing is an important and smart move, and the Ultra model finally lives up to its name. The COVID-19 pandemic might prevent sales from going through the roof, but I think the company has set itself up for real success this year.
I wrote the Android Authority review for the vanilla Galaxy S21. In brief, I loved my time with the phone. The camera is terrific (especially for the $800 asking price), its palm-friendly size is a breath of fresh air in the “bigger is always better” world of Android, and the Snapdragon 888 processor is a total monster. Even the controversial changes this year didn’t matter much to me. Yeah, the lack of a microSD card slot is annoying, but the move to a plastic back is actually good, in my eyes. I’ll let you read the review for all my thoughts on those things.
In the past, the biggest reason I avoided buying Samsung phones was the software. Simply put, One UI is not my favorite Android skin. I’ll take the minimalist simplicity of Oxygen OS or Pixel UI any day over the bloated and sometimes incoherent mess of One UI. When you factored in Samsung’s dismal reputation for delivering Android updates, it was enough to make me swear off the brand.
Things have changed, however. One UI is now better than ever. Yes, it’s still bloated with apps I don’t want and features I’ll never use, but Samsung has done a great job making all that less in-your-face. Moreover, the company has pulled a one-eighty when it comes to after-market support. Security patches are flying in at a furious pace. Android 11 landed on all its major flagships in record time.
In brief, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series has great hardware and great software. This isn’t something I’ve ever been able to say with conviction about Samsung phones.
OnePlus 7 Pro: What makes me want to stay
As great as the Galaxy S21 phones are, the OnePlus 7 Pro is still my favorite Android phone of all time. In so many ways it seems like OnePlus made the phone specifically for me. It ticks off so many of my essential smartphone feature boxes.
I’ve already written a whole article about why I love the OnePlus 7 Pro, so I won’t rehash it all here. I do want to focus on the two things the phone offers that the Galaxy S21 series doesn’t: an uninterrupted display and the alert slider.
I am of the opinion that the pop-up selfie camera is currently the best way to get rid of notches and display cutouts in smartphones. The pop-up camera on the OnePlus 7 Pro is one of its best features, even now after the display cutout has become the industry standard. Yes, eventually we’ll have under-display selfie cameras that will solve both problems. At the moment, however, the technology just isn’t far enough along for wide consumer adoption.
Moving from that gorgeous 1440p display with no cutout to a 1080p display with a big selfie camera hole at the top would be difficult. Nevertheless, after a week of using the Samsung Galaxy S21, the cutout became less of an annoyance. But any time I started playing a game or watching a YouTube video it would be there, reminding me that this display just isn’t as good as that of the 7 Pro.
The alert slider would also be hard to abandon. For the life of me, I have no idea why all Android OEMs haven’t stolen this feature. It’s so nice to simply flip up the slider when I don’t want to be interrupted. Thankfully, the premium version of the third-party Side Actions app gives me a workaround on Galaxy devices. Still, that alert slider would be greatly missed.
What else is in the pipeline?
Credit: David Imel / Android Authority
We’re not even out of the first month of 2021 yet. Although I am greatly impressed by the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, would waiting a bit longer to make a commitment be a good idea?
Obviously, the OnePlus 9 series is right around the corner. However, there doesn’t appear to be much even the OnePlus 9 Pro will offer over the vanilla Galaxy S21. The Galaxy S21 will likely have a better rear camera system, while the rest of the specs should be much the same across the two phones. With the 9 Pro having a display cutout too, the only real advantage would be that I’d get to keep the alert slider and stick with Oxygen OS.
The Asus ROG Phone 4 (or 5) is also coming up soon. The Asus ROG Phone 3 was my favorite smartphone of 2020, so its follow-up is certainly on my radar. The big problem I have with the ROG Phone series, however, is how massive the phones are. I love using them for specific tasks — which includes gaming, obviously — but I don’t like lugging them around with me wherever I go. Nevertheless, it is likely this phone will have an uninterrupted display, which does make it enticing.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we also expect a Google Pixel 5a to land at some point in the first half of the year. If it’s anything like the Pixel 4a, it’s bound to be a stellar device with a great camera, terrific software, and a low price. Yet, My big gripe with Pixel phones is the fingerprint reader being on the back. My phone lives on my desk for 10 hours every day so I need my sensor on the front.
It appears no matter what I do, I’m going to need to give something up to get something new.
Decision time: What’s it gonna be?
Honestly, I hoped that writing this all out would make this decision easier for me. I’m not sure it worked, though.
Loading poll
On one hand, I have the Samsung Galaxy S21. It will have a better camera than the OnePlus 7 Pro, a faster processor, 5G support, and a smaller form-factor. However, it will have a display cutout and lack an alert slider.
On the other hand, I have the OnePlus 7 Pro. It has a higher-resolution uninterrupted display. Its Snapdragon 855 processor is still fully capable, its camera is good enough to get the job done, and its software is much more in line with my taste.
Inevitably, I’m going to need to upgrade. I can’t use the 7 Pro forever. The question, I guess, then becomes whether or not now is the right time. The notable aspect of this whole conundrum is that I am thinking about switching to Samsung in the first place. I don’t know if that says more about Samsung upping its game or OnePlus’ recent fumbles. 2021 is already a year full of surprises.
Maybe you can help? Answer the poll above, and then let me know in the comments what you think I should do!
A new lawsuit has accused Valve of abusing Steam's market power to prevent price competition.
The Hollywood Reporter said that five gamers filed an antitrust class action in California that alleges Valve requires developers and publishers enter into a "Most Favoured Nation" clause.
Eurogamer Next-Gen News Cast - Should Sony issue refunds for Control on PS5?
A Most Favoured Nation clause is a retail parity clause in which a supplier agrees to treat a particular customer no worse than all other customers. MFNs are under increased scrutiny from authorities across the world, including the European Commission.
The lawsuit alleges a developer or publisher must agree the price of a PC game on Steam will be the same price as on other PC platforms. Essentially, the lawsuit claims Steam does not allow developers to price their games lower on other platforms.
The suit, submitted by American law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, says Valve's MFN clause keeps prices of PC games high on other platforms, such as the Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store.
"The Steam MFN also hinders innovation by creating an artificial barrier to entry for platforms," reads the complaint.
"When a market, such as this one, is highly concentrated, a new entrant can benefit consumers by undercutting the incumbent's prices. The ability to provide PC games to consumers at lower prices is one way a firm or new entrant could gain market share. If this market functioned properly - that is, if the Steam MFN did not exist and platforms were able to compete on price - platforms competing with Steam would be able to provide the same (or higher) margins to game developers while simultaneously providing lower prices to consumers."
The lawsuit uses tweets from Epic boss Tim Sweeney to back up its case. In a January 2019 tweet, Sweeney said Steam "has veto power over prices".
Steam has veto power over prices, so if a multi-store developer wishes to sell their game for a lower price on the Epic Games store than Steam, then:
1) Valve can simply say ?no?
2) Pricing disparity would likely anger Steam users, leading to review bombing, etc
"If the dominant store has a price parity clause, and takes a much higher revenue share than competitors, then the only way for creators to pass savings on to gamers is by avoiding the dominant store.
"That's what this is ultimately about!"
Curiously, the lawsuit includes a raft of publishers as co-defendants: CD Projekt, Ubisoft, kChamp Games (the one-man indie developer behind ShellShock Live), Rust, LLC (the Los Angeles developer behind Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades), and Devolver Digital. The lawsuit alleges these companies agreed to the Steam MFN.
But why include only these publishers and developers and not the many others who release games on Steam? Why single out two indie developers in this case?
The suit alleges that if Steam MFN did not exist and platforms were able to compete on price, then platforms competing with Steam would be able to provide the same (or higher) margins to game developers while simultaneously providing lower prices to consumers. But does this play out in reality?
Ubisoft ditched Steam a while back to launch its PC games on the Epic Games Store. On Epic's platform, Assassin's Creed Valhalla costs £49.99. That's the same price as Assassin's Creed Odyssey costs on Steam. Despite the increased revenue share afforded to publishers and developers on the Epic Games Store and the fact Assassin's Creed Valhalla is not on Steam, it doesn't look like any saving has been passed on to customers.
And what about this Steam MVN upon which the lawsuit is based? According to the pricing section of Steamworks' documentation, developers and publishers are responsible for setting and managing pricing for their products. However, the blurb confirms Valve will review initial pricing and proposed pricing adjustments (sales).
"Initial pricing as well as proposed pricing adjustments will be reviewed by Valve and are usually processed within one or two business days," reads the documentation.
"We recommend pricing strategies based on our experience and we may suggest prices based on currency conversions and other factors."
Steam's pricing rules, according to public documentation.
Does this amount to an MVN clause? Tim Sweeney seems to think so. In a February 2019 tweet, the Epic boss said the "reviewed by Valve" line "shows developers don't have autonomy to set prices for games".
"Please note that Steam keys cannot be sold on other sites unless the product is also available for purchase on Steam at no higher a price than is offered on any other service or website."
What's going on here, then? Back in February 2019, Epic's Tim Sweeney tweeted to suggest private agreements between Steam and developers is not usually known.
"The situation with price parity expectations on Steam is not transparent," Sweeney said. "Valve's public docs say temporary sales elsewhere are fine but they expect overall price parity on Steam keys. What each private Steam agreement with developers require is not generally know."
"We have been told by multiple developers that Valve has approval over price and that long-term price parity (excluding temporary sales) is expected. We are researching further. Because these agreements are private, any Valve clarification would be helpful."
Valve is yet to comment on the lawsuit. Devolver has shrugged it off.
We started Rust Inc. to quietly steal Rust away from you.
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The lawsuit wants a ruling that Steam's supposed MFN clause "is anticompetitive and constitutes illegal monopolisation and monopoly maintenance", an injunction, damages and legal costs.
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