Valve Software, which through its Steam platform sells and supports games and software on behalf of other game publishers, has been fined AU $3 million by an Australian Federal Court for "misleading consumers," and for not conducting commerce in line with the local consumer protection norms, which guarantee Australian consumers a host of remedies that include refunds, if a product or service purchased doesn't live up to its marketed standards.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2014 pulled up Valve for not offering a satisfactory refunds system to Australian consumers. The case, heard by a Federal Court, after two appeals by Valve against penalties, ordered Valve to pay up AU $3 million in fine, and set up a consumer-satisfaction system in line with Australian Consumer Law. As a private company (not listed on any stock exchange), Valve is not obligated to reveal its net-worth, which was estimated by the press in various points in time. It was valued at USD $3 billion in 2012. Its founder Gabe Newell has an estimated net-worth of $5.5 billion, according to a Forbes report.