Valve has announced the removal of individual arbitration for handling consumer complaints in the United States

Valve has announced a shift away from resolving disputes through individual arbitration for its American consumers, now directing such issues to be handled in court.

According to Ars Technica, an update to Steam's Subscriber Agreement was communicated to users via email, highlighting changes that affect their "legal rights, including how disputes and claims between [them] and Valve are resolved."

The notification detailed: "The new dispute resolution provisions in Section 10 require that all disputes and claims proceed in court and not in arbitration."

This update appears to specifically impact US customers, but Valve remarked: "If the laws where you live mandate alternative dispute resolution options, you may seek a remedy under those options."

In a blog post, the company further explained: "For many of our customers (including those in the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Quebec), these updates have limited impact as the arbitration rules were not applicable to them even before this update."

The older agreement dictated that any disputes and claims between Valve and its users should be resolved through "individual binding arbitration."

The recent changes specify: "You and Valve agree that all disputes and claims between you and Valve (including any that arose before this or any prior agreement) shall be commenced and maintained exclusively in any state or federal court located in King County, Washington, having subject matter jurisdiction."

These changes to Steam's Subscriber Agreement take effect once a user consents, as Valve begins rolling out notification pop-ups on the platform, with the terms becoming standard by November 1, 2024.