this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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The Performing Right Society (PRS) has "commenced legal proceedings" against Steam owner Valve over the use of its members' works on Steam "without permission."

The organization claims that while games right across the spectrum use music to "transform play into emotional, immersive experiences," Valve has "never obtained a licence for its use of the rights managed by PRS on behalf of its members, comprising songwriters, composers, and music publishers."

PRS claims "many game titles which incorporate PRS members' musical works are made available on Steam," including "high profile series" such as Forza Horizon, FIFA/EA FC, and GTA.

PRS said that as it had sought to work with Valve about the licensing issues "for many years without appropriate engagement from Valve," it has now issued legal proceedings under the UK's s20 Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 and requires any game that uses PRS' works to obtain a licence.

"The litigation will progress unless Valve Corporation engages positively with discussions and takes the necessary license to cover the use of PRS repertoire, both retrospectively and moving forwards," the organization said in a press statement.

Dan Gopal, chief commercial officer, PRS for Music said: "Our members create music that enhances experiences and PRS exists to protect the value of their work with integrity, transparency, and fairness. Legal proceedings are not a step we take lightly, but when a business’s actions undermine those principles, we have a duty to act.

"Great video games rely on great soundtracks, and the songwriters and creators behind them deserve to have their contribution recognised and fairly valued."

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[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 115 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

"The litigation will progress until Valve obeys" sounds an awful lot like extortion.

They are clearly trying to double/triple dip on shit that already been paid for and licensed.

Whats next?

Make us individual game owners pay license every time we download and install the game?

[–] Shirasho@lemmings.world 46 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Lest we forget, Unity tried to do just that and walked back due to backlash.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Unity never tried that? They wanted to charge the developer using Unity. It was stupid, but they pay for unity one way or another.

[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Make us individual game owners pay license every time we download and install the game?

This is how it’s been done for decades now? Every game you purchase off of Steam, Xbox, PlayStation is just a license to play that game.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Really?

I don't recall having to pay a fee every time I redownload or reinstall my game...ever

[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

Suggest reading into software licensing and understand the different types of licenses that could be used.

[–] SparroHawc@lemmy.zip 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Every time a company tries to restrict the number of downloads/reinstalls for a game that you buy a license for, it has backlashed so catastrophically that they've walked it back.

So it has happened, yes, but there is no situation currently with game distributors where you pay a license for a single download. They're all pay once, download in perpetuity.

[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Don’t get me wrong here, I understand the pushback from the community in this regard and i’m not try to defend proprietary software licensing.

I’m more of letting the original commenter know that they actually don’t own the game or game files they purchase from common store-fronts, they simply own a license to download and play the game.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

People don't like being proven wrong, and often try to dismiss it with some variation of "Im not gonna sit here and be told the whatfer by some random idiot"

Sounds like you’re describing yourself here.

  • Refused to accept documentation from a valid source.

  • Instead of having a discussion, you proceed with a pointless “Sure, buddy” at an attempt to deflect from the topic.

So when it came to registering on Lemmy, that popped up in my head and bobs your uncle.

Real nice honeypot too, every time someones wrong and backs themselves into a corner instead of admitting they are wrong, they inevitably give some variation of "living up to your user name, huh", which just continues to prove that the actual idiot is the one lashing out like that.

You chose to make the two comments above, I simply humoured your ignorance and lack of understanding of the subject.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Sure buddy.

Keep it up, maybe you'l get to pay a license fee for repeatedly posting, too.

[–] GuardYaGrill@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 hours ago

Someone’s butthurt, do you want a cookie to ease the pain?