[threeseed]

> Sony is not involved in Valve's decision

You don't know this.

There have been countless situations similar to this where license holders have demanded that platforms enforce restrictions. Especially in cases like this where you're dealing with countries that are under sanctions restrictions.

[tomnipotent]

Point out a single instance where Valve has been caught banning accounts at the request of other businesses. Of course you're welcome to make all the wild speculations you'd like, but I'll stick to reasonable conclusions in the mean time.

[doublerabbit]

Dota2 and Smurf accounts.

No different to as to using the VPN.

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/valve-bans-90k-i-dota...

https://www.dota2.com/newsentry/3692442542242977036

[oefrha]

1. Dota is from Valve, not another publisher.

2. I see no mention of Steam account bans in either link. Don’t know if you have additional information supporting Steam bans.

Banning unwanted players from a game is fair game. Locking them out of every other purchase too? Highly questionable.

[threeseed]

It is standard practice across the entertainment industry including video games.

Rights holders will demand that platforms enforce their restrictions. Which is exactly what Valve is doing.

[tomnipotent]

Of course Valve has policies designed to meet the expectations of rights holders, that's a given and I'm unaware of any serious business on the planet selling goods created by other companies that doesn't have such policies and enforce them so they can continue to sell those goods. This is a blanket policy that Valve enforces regardless of the publisher.

Valve has been banning accounts for circumventing region restrictions for as long as the feature has existed, and long before Sony added their games to the platform. Just because these policies were designed to appease rights holders doesn't change the fact that it's at Valve's sole discretion to enforce compliance (at risk of losing publishers).

[margana]

Let's be real here, there is no risk of losing publishers over not bending the knee to publishers over unreasonable demands (such as banning entire accounts). Publishers have been trying to stay off Steam for much more strategic reasons, and they have always come crawling back, admitting they fail at distributing games on their own. They would never seriously consider ditching the platform over petty grievances like this.