The Steam subscriber agreement has dropped its forced arbitration clause, allowing gamers to take legal action against the platform

It's OK to like people who generally do things you like! Especially since it's also OK to change your mind if you find out later they did something bad. You don't have to pre-emptively dislike Gabe.

^{our lord and savior /s}

From the sound of it, it seems like this is just a tactic to screw a different set of consumers though?

So why would Valve do this? It may be a response to several law firms’ attempt to file “mass arbitrations,” wherein “hundreds or thousands of consumers bringing individual arbitration claims against the same company at the same time and over the same issue,” according to ClassAction.org. It’s essentially a loophole for class action waivers and arbitration clauses, though it still won’t end up in court. ClassAction.org, a class-action watchdog website, called it a “relatively new” way to take on corporations for consumer disputes.

Reading the article, it seems more like a reaction to arbitration becoming a less good option compared to the alternative, rather than Valve feeling generous all of a sudden.

As much as I like Valve, this isn’t unprecedented. For example, the reason that refunds exist was not because they felt like it; it was because the EU, along with other countries, started to breathe down on their neck about it.

But still, credit where credit is due, Valve is still one of the most consumer friendly companies in gaming

From the article

So why would Valve do this? It may be a response to several law firms’ attempt to file “mass arbitrations,” wherein “hundreds or thousands of consumers bringing individual arbitration claims against the same company at the same time and over the same issue,” according to ClassAction.org. It’s essentially a loophole for class action waivers and arbitration clauses, though it still won’t end up in court. ClassAction.org, a class-action watchdog website, called it a “relatively new” way to take on corporations for consumer disputes. Several law firms have pursued this option, one of which was sued by Valve for allegedly attempting to “extort” the company with a threat of mass arbitration with more than 50,000 people. (This lawsuit was dismissed in August without prejudice, meaning Valve could re-file.)

One theory would be that this move benefits Valve because they’ve determined the threat of mass arbitration to be worse than the threat of a class action that goes to court.