On 23 December 2016 the Australian Federal Court ordered Valve Corporation (Valve) to pay penalties totalling $3 million for breaching the Australian Consumer Law. In March 2016, the Court found that Valve had breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading representations to consumers in relation to its online gaming platform, Steam. The judge also took into account "Valve's culture of compliance [which] was, and is, very poor". Valve's evidence was 'disturbing' to the Court because Valve 'formed a view...that it was not subject to Australian law...and with the view that even if advice had been obtained that Valve was required to comply with the Australian law the advice might have been ignored". He also noted that Valve had 'contested liability on almost every imaginable point'.

This company was fined 147,000 euros by French authorities in 2018 for failing to implement satisfactory refund policies on its Steam digital storefront.

In 2020 Valve executives claimed that excessive overtime (crunch) rarely occured at their development studios. The company tries to attempt a good work-life balance to ensure it doesn't "slowly erode your home life by working you to death". Mind you, Valve doesn't make very many games.