European Commission levies $9.5 million in fines for 'geo-blocked' Steam games

[Puiu]

I recommend you ignore this kind of nonsense in the future since it doesnt deserve to be commented on.

But he isn't wrong. The "obsession" of americans against anything "social" is ridiculous. It's why their healthcare system sells pills for 300-500$ when they're 2-3$ where I live. If I were allowed to export such things to the US I would become a billionaire overnight.

 

[wizardB]

What I laugh at is the foolish people that believe governments fining corporation helps them. All it does is put some more money in the government coffers that you paid out to these corporation therefore causing them to raise their prices in order to recover this money. It is actually more taxation disguised as benevolence.

 

[Puiu]

What I laugh at is the foolish people that believe governments fining corporation helps them. All it does is put some more money in the government coffers that you paid out to these corporation therefore causing them to raise their prices in order to recover this money. It is actually more taxation disguised as benevolence.

doing nothing is much worse.

 

[wizardB]

No, it's really not for your wallet.

 

[Bp968]

Free at the point of sale. The overall cost per person generally ends up being significantly lower then in, say, the US, since the government can drive down prices. Hence why the standard of living is higher in most of Europe now then in the US.

It is? Last time I checked folks in the US had larger homes and more real-estate assets then most of the EU (probably due to wealth concentration in major cities, an issue in the US too). And im constantly hearing complaints about how US costs for goods are far less than EU costs for the same thing (even before 20%+ VATs are added to the price).

Both systems have their benefits. Doing business in the EU is significantly more complex so the US has a much more vibrant small business community for example. They also have a much stronger tech industry and space industry. The EU nations tend to have better Healthcare and at a lower cost (to both the individual and the government). Plenty of folks would argue with me over that but the math is clear. Because medicare and medicaid (who manage the health of somewhere around half the nation) refuse to price negotiate with drug companies they pay massively higher rates for those drugs. For example, if Medicare paid the same price for humira that Denmark does they could give it US patients for *free* and still have tremendous savings. Instead right now patients spend between 500$ and many thousands per dose *and* Medicare pays more as well. Lose lose.

But no. Humanity doesn't compromise. A European says his system is flawless and Americans are stupid barbarians, and Americans say their system is flawless and Europeans are soon to be broke stupid communists. When the truth is we are all stupid and arrogrant little viruses replicating our way into oblivion.

 

[gamerk2]

Because medicare and medicaid (who manage the health of somewhere around half the nation) refuse to price negotiate with drug companies they pay massively higher rates for those drugs.

Because they are forbidden to by law.

I'm personally for whatever works. And at least as far as healthcare is concerned, the US's doesn't.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I don't think that fining the distributor of the games is really all that fair. They aren't the ones who geo-locked the games, the developers are. The developers should be the only ones being fined because Steam has little to no control over what is valid where, they just sell the versions of the games that are made available. UPlay, Epic and Origin are different stories because they're owned by actual developers while Steam isn't.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I feel this sort of issue happens a lot where american companies don’t take european regulations very seriously, act as they would in the US then get punished for it. I’m not sure if it is ignorance, arrogance or both.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Microsoft got slapped because they forced users to accept Internet Exploder and had to re-work Windows to give consumers a choice of browser during installation.

The Eups want the populace playing games so they won't be paying attention to what matters. The Eups need all the $ they can get to give it away on social programs. I ain't moving there

Where did you get that "pearl of wisdom" from? Was it Alex Jones or Sean Hannity? I'm sure that the Europeans aren't going to be heartbroken without you.

While you're at it, do Canada a favour and don't move (or visit) here either.
We're quite happy with you remaining south of the 49th parallel along with all the other extreme right-wing lunatics where you belong. Maybe that's why so many Americans travel so little... other countries don't want extra trash in their backyard.