Wolfire's amended lawsuit is given the greenlight by the court.
Overgrowth screenshot

In April 2021, Wolfire Games filed a lawsuit against Valve. The lawsuit claimed that through Steam, Valve somehow suppresses the competition. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2021 because it failed to meet necessary standards for the court. Wolfire had 30 days to amend their complaint and refile it. They did just that and a judge has now ruled that the case may move forward.

The original lawsuit from Wolfire claims that Valve dominates the PC gaming market with Steam. As such, Valve is allegedly suppressing competition while also taking "an extraordinarily high cut from nearly every sale that passes through its store." This, in turn, supposedly keeps the prices artificially high.

"In order to afford Valve's 30 percent commission, game publishers must raise their prices to consumers and can afford to invest fewer resources in innovation and creation.

"Gamers are injured by paying higher retail prices caused by Valve's high commissions. Competition, output, and innovation are suppressed, in ways that can never be fully redressed by damages alone."
This statement, pulled directly from the lawsuit, is already rather laughable when you look at other storefronts. Epic Games and the Epic Games Store's 12% cut have shown that no savings are passed along to "gamers" or consumers with a lower cut for retailers.

Valve defended themselves and their 30% commission in a short statement issued in late July 2021.

"Plaintiffs can muster only a generalization that economics predicts Valve's 30% commission should have decreased over time ... In fact, 30% has become the 'industry standard,' while Valve has faced competition from some of the largest companies in the industry, including Microsoft, Epic Games, and Amazon."
Valve also criticized Wolfire's lawsuit as it lacked specific claims. Wolfire's initial suit said that Valve forbids developers from selling discounted Steam keys through other retailers. This seems to have come from "a single anecdote" from one unnamed developer. The judge for the initial suit seemed to agree with Valve's remarks as the case was dismissed, saying that the lawsuit "does not articulate sufficient facts to plausibly allege an antitrust injury."

This amended lawsuit, seen at GameDiscover.co (direct link to amended suit dated May 6th (PDF)) does not include any new allegations. Rather, it adds additional context to the original allegations by Wolfire Games. One of the new context pieces notes that Valve's acquisition of WON (World Opponent Network) in 2001 forced "gamers onto the Steam platform" when it was shut down a year after its acquisition.

The fact that Wolfire was allowed to amend their lawsuit is not indicative of any potential outcome in this case. Four claims from the original lawsuit were dismissed. These claims alleged that the Steam platform and the Steam market operated in separate markets. These were dismissed with prejudice meaning that the claims cannot be filed again, amended or not.

Wolfire's titles, such as Overgrowth and Receiver are still available through Steam. It's frankly surprising that they're still available for purchase through Steam.