Sony Confirmed To Be Behind HD2 Delisting Of 180 Countries, Not Valve
So there was some speculation whether Valve delisted the 177 (now 180) countries to protect itself legally or if Sony had done it for Sony reasons. It appears that Sony has been confirmed to be the one who delisted it
Yeah. From a legal perspective I can't see steam modifying a game for a publisher at all. It can remove the game. But going in there and modifying any settings makes steam liable. Which they wouldn't want to touch with a 10-ft hole especially with this game
Hard to say. Obviously not a lawyer, but I'd say that it's within Valve's rights to decide which games it sells to which region at a whim, particularly when they could've also become liable if they knowingly continued selling a "defective" product in those regions.
That said, putting the legal perspective aside, I doubt that Valve would've done anything that could've hurt their relationship with Sony without consulting with them first.
Valve is the seller so will be on the hook towards customers. Valve will not continue selling a product that will cause them problems.. especially once they know. The contracts will surely have indemnification clauses.. but also sticking your dick in the blender when some other company is doing it does not seem like a solid plan.
I'll bet valve's input towards Sony played a role in the turn back.
From a legal perspective valve can definitely force them to delist and or modify code when it's sold on their platform, they can't do modifications themselves but they could delist the game where they would be liable for shit sony does, or just in general. They could (and should) delist all Sony games due to the fraudulent actions sony commits.