Steam is changing its storefront to comply with a requirement that assures EU players have a clear view of sale prices.
SteamDB discovered the change, which was prompted by the European Union’s Omnibus Directive. It confirms that users in the EU will now be able to view the lowest price a game has had in the last 30 days.
The mandate comes as legislators try to safeguard customers from fraudulent or misleading sale prices, as well as less scrupulous publishers that purposely raise the price of a game ahead of a sale period in order to artificially inflate the sale discount.
There’s no indication yet on whether Steam intends to expand the scheme to all consumers or keep the feature restricted to those protected by EU law. However, for those who are unaware, SteamDB’s useful browser addon already displays the all-time low Steam pricing for all titles – regardless of where you are in the world.
ICYMI, the Dolphin emulator, which allows users to play GameCube and Wii titles, announced last month that its scheduled Steam release has been postponed indefinitely.
The team stated in the statement that Nintendo filed a DMCA takedown notice with Steam owner Valve against Dolphin’s page on the PC gaming marketplace, which has since been removed.
“We were notified by Valve that Nintendo has issued a cease and desist citing the DMCA against Dolphin’s Steam page, and we have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is settled,” the statement added. “We are currently researching our options and will provide a more detailed response in the near future.”
