Jamppi sued the wrong Valve company after being banned

After being banned from all major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, 18-year-old pro player Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen is suing Valve. But not the Valve you’re thinking of. 

When Jamppi was banned from Valve-sponsored touraments due to a recorded VAC ban, Jamppi decided to sue the developer for the earnings he missed out on due to the punishment, about €268,092. Due to Finland’s Tort Act of 1974, which states that “courts can only award damages for purely economic harm if the defendant has committed a crime on top of that harm,” it’s already highly unlikely that Valve would be made to pay out. But this is made even more unlikely due to a small mistake Jamppi made when filing the claim. 

The company Jamppi sued responded to the lawsuit last month, and they’re not Valve Corporation. They’re Valve GmbH, a subsidiary of Valve Corp that was founded in 2016. In their response, Valve GmbH rejected Jamppi’s complaint on all grounds, stating that they “do not own or manage the CS game or its licenses in any way.” Instead, they’re focused on manufacturing and technology. They added that the amount Jamppi is suing for is “unfounded” because they are not responsible for a third-party organization not entering an employment contract with Jamppi. 

The company also responded that the District Court of Eastern Uusimaa has no jurisdiction to hear the case because Valve GmbH is not conducting business in Finland. Instead, they’re located in Germany. 

Valve GmbH concluded: “The district court should therefore dismiss the case as inadmissible before the case incurs further legal costs.” 

For now, Jamppi is still banned from CSGO Majors because his old Steam account was VAC banned in 2015. In response, the ENCE-signed player argued that he hasn’t used that account in a long time. He also stated that the account was “lent to a friend,” attempting to imply that the bannable activities may not have be attributable to Jamppi. Regardless of the validity of that particular excuse, Valve’s stance on banned players has been clear for years.