If you booted up Steam in the last 24 hours, you likely saw the pop-up window prompting you to agree to a new Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA). Valve detailed the changes in an official blog post on the Steam Community forum, with the notable removal of binding arbitration from the SSA. Binding arbitration entails disputes being resolved outside of courts by an arbitrator paid by the company, a practice that has become common in Terms of Service agreements. The new SSA now directs customers to contact Steam Support for issue resolution, with disputes ultimately going to court instead of arbitration. The updated SSA also eliminates the class action waiver, allowing groups of plaintiffs to sue jointly, a notable change from typical agreements. Valve states that these changes will have limited impact in certain regions, as the arbitration requirement did not apply to some areas. Despite these consumer-friendly shifts, Steam has not disclosed its motivations for the updates. Inquiries have been made to Steam for clarification.
