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I believe the only successful ones were from government bodies.
There's an ambulance chaser suit out now trying to collect arbitration against Steam, hinging on the success of an old case that's lost every time, miserably. Their last ditch attempt trying to prove Steam controls all PC game pricing across other stores, some time in 2024.
Some government or consumer agency organised suits have been there. Most not actually lost by Valve, but they did lose cases or part of them.
The threats you see on the forums, though, are usually just empty threats. It's a schtick people throw around, some people seem to actually think that saying "I will sue" will change anything as if they're that important people. Most people I've seen making that empty thread can hardly be called a customer, though.
That said, I would love it if people actually did go the consumer agency/lawyer route. If Valve loses, then things might change for us. If Valve wins, it makes clear how things truly stand. Either way, quoting laws and making threats on forums won't actually do anything and are basically just moot. Actions count, not words on a forum.
To the OP, corporations like Valve get sued all the time. It's part of doing business as a megacorp. The closest I think that we can come to with a basic Steam user/consumer suing Valve is the Australian case in regards to refunds. There, Valve was sued over denying some Aussies refunds. Valve lost part of the case and was required to make their refund policy more transparent and consistent. However, the court sided with Valve in every instance for the actual refunds that were demanded by users. The court found Valve did not have to offer those people refunds, so in the end it was pretty much a victory for Valve who essentially just got a slap on the wrist.
"YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AND VALVE ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND TO HAVE A TRIAL BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY."
It says so right there in the agreement.
If it would say the User is not allowed to breath anymore, would you follow that agreement and think that it would be a legal clause?
I've seen agreements making the user agree to giving them their soul and first born child.
this is one of the parts of eula's that have not held up in court
a lady sued microsoft in small claims for destroying her files
they have a eula with a clause like that as well and still lost
South Park's HUMANCENTiPAD commented on something like that.
this is why i recommend small claims to the people that say they are going to get a lawyer
no lawyers so they will not have to pay as much when they lose
with the very small chance they get a tech hating judge willing to give them some sympathy
That part of the EULA actually does hold up well. If you notice the scam lawyers are not filing suit in their grievance, they are also going thru arbitration. I BELIEVE but i might be wrong there are a few specific instances in which a lawsuit will trump the EULA in stuff like Gross negligence resulting in bodily harm and/or death but those cases are not relevant to steam.
Arbitration is close enough to a lawsuit and is actually more favorable to both parties in many cases being far more cost efficient for someone to pursue.
Yeah i've had to take a business to small claims court for shoddy work they did. We got 80% of what we asked for back, it's a bit of a learning curve to file everything, and i'm sure it varies from state to state but wasn't that bad.
Litigation however can be very expensive and there wont be many lawyers or firms willing to undertake a case whereby a) the plaintiff doesn't have a case b) the plaintiff doesn't have sufficient capital to have the case benched and then ran to a judgement.
99.99% of users who play the lawsuit card are in the wrong, don't know what they are talking about or just venting. To date, their hasn't been on individual in over 100m users spanning 20 years who has filed a claim against valve.
Valve have had a fair few very credible commercial and regional suits in which they have lost or reached settlements but no gamers have seen through any of their threats.