Valve is getting sued for patent infringement for its use of rumble, or haptic, technology in the Steam Deck and other hardware. Of course, this isn’t the first time the Washington-based company has been taken to court. In April 2021, Wolfire Games filed an antitrust lawsuit against Valve for requiring developers to pay a 30% commission to release games on Steam, which it claimed stifled competition. That case is still ongoing.
In the meantime, Valve launched its handheld gaming PC in February 2022 and passed one million units sold by October of that year. The company also recently revealed that nearly 42% of Steam Deck owners prefer it over other platforms. The device has proven to be extremely versatile as well, with many people modding it to suit their preferences and the Ukraine military even using it to remotely control turrets.
It can’t be all roses, however, and Valve is now facing a lawsuit from Immersion Corporation for infringing on a number of its patents. Immersion develops haptic technology for mobile devices, gaming, and automotive, among other things, and the company has registered various patents for its work. It is now claiming that Valve has infringed on some of those rumble tech patents with the Steam Deck, Valve Index VR headset, SteamVR software, and a number of games including Half-Life: Alyx.
The lawsuit, spotted by The Verge, was filed on May 15 with a federal court in Washington state and lists seven patents that have allegedly been infringed upon. Immersion is asking for an injunction to prevent Valve from “deploying, operating, maintaining, testing, and using” any of its tech, as well as damages and royalties. At the time of writing, Valve hasn’t officially responded to the suit.
Immersion’s work in haptic technology is so ubiquitous that a number of prominent tech companies either license its work or have had similar patent lawsuits filed against them, which predominantly settle out of court. The Verge pointed out that both Sony and Microsoft have had to deal with Immersion lawsuits in the past and now pay for licenses, and Google, Apple, and Meta have also found themselves facing off with the company's lawyers at one time or another.
If the track record is anything to go by, Valve will probably likewise settle the lawsuit, unless it’s clearly black and white that the Steam Deck did not inadvertently infringe on Immersion’s patents. That’s likely not all that the company has on its mind, though, as Asus will be launching its competitor portable PC on June 13. While Valve congratulated Asus for its upcoming ROG Ally device, it’s still uncertain whether the newcomer in the handheld space will make a noticeable dent in the Steam Deck’s popularity.
Source: The Verge