Valve has issued an update to its Steam Subscriber Agreement that effectively prevents all Steam users from joining in class-action lawsuits against the company. Valve's new SSA requires that "you [the user] and Valve agree to resolve all disputes and claims... in individual binding arbitration," mimicking similar language added by EA to its Origin service agreement and Microsoft with Windows 8.

Valve offers a curious explanation for the change in a press release, speaking on users' behalf: "In far too many cases, class actions don’t provide any real benefit to users and instead impose unnecessary expense and delay, and are often designed to benefit the class action lawyers who craft and litigate these claims. Class actions like these do not benefit us or our communities."

Unlike other companies who've issued language to prevent class-actions, Valve has granted users a weird bit of compensation in the new SSA. Anyone who elects to use individual arbitration to resolve any Steam-related disputes can expect to have their cost of arbitration paid for entirely by Valve, no matter the final decision. However, for this offer to stand, the claim must be under $10,000, and the arbitrator must not "determine the claim to be frivolous or the costs unreasonable."

All such arbitration cases would be administered by the American Arbitration Association, a non-profit organization with offices throughout the United States. Users can also elect to submit claims to a small-claims court instead, but they can't expect compensation from Valve when going that route.

The move comes only one week after EA offered to settle a class-action claim regarding exclusivity deals in franchises such as Madden NFL and NCAA Football. That settlement would not only force EA to pay back its customers, but also delivers antitrust consequences, particularly stopping the company from seeking exclusivity deals with the NCAA and AFL football leagues. By imposing this "individual claim" limitation, Valve effectively neuters any similar, large-scale cases from Steam users, particularly ones that might arise if the service were to ever shut down or block a mass of users from playing the games they'd paid for.

Valve representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment.