Valve Faces Lawsuit Over Music Rights Issues with Games

Video game company Valve is caught in a new lawsuit by The Performing Right Society (PRS) over the alleged sale of music from the group without a license. The PRS claims that games sold on Steam, Valve’s online storefront, require a separate license for Valve to be able to sell them.

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According to PRS, 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.” The organization noted that this was despite ongoing attempts to work with Valve for many years. As a result, the group has filed a lawsuit under the UK’s s20 Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. The lawsuit seeks “the necessary license to cover the use of PRS repertoire, both retrospectively and moving forwards.”

What Does This Lawsuit Mean for the Video Game Industry?

The lawsuit against Valve seems strange at first glance. Valve isn’t actually the developer of the games in PRS’s lawsuit. Those studios have separate licenses with the developers for the music in their games. If Valve were required to have a license for these games, it introduces questions about other storefronts. Do Sony SONY +1.30% ▲ , Microsoft MSFT -0.71% ▼ , and Nintendo NTDOF +4.20% ▲ have licenses with PRS? Will PRS file lawsuits against them if it wins the one against Valve? All of this is still unknown but will likely be determined in court.

Valve has been caught in another lawsuit recently, this one related to its popular games Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2. The company faces allegations of exposing minors and adults to illegal gambling via the loot boxes in these games. Unlike the PRS lawsuit, this one is happening stateside, with New York Attorney General Letitia James being behind it.

What Are the Best Video Game Stocks?

Turning to the TipRanks stock comparison tool, traders can see what analysts think about the big three of video game stocks. Microsoft is a favorite among analysts, with a consensus Strong Buy rating, compared to Moderate Buy ratings for Sony and Nintendo. However, each of the stocks has strong upside potential at 46.45% for SONY, 46.17% for MSFT, and 38.48% for NTDOF.

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