Several weeks ago, Valve got into trouble after the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the Dota 2 and CS2 lootboxes. We had to wait a few days after the news came out, but Valve finally addressed the issue. According to the company, the items in the boxes are purely cosmetic, so there’s no disadvantage to a player not spending money.
Valve’s Response to the New York Attorney General
As mentioned, the NY Attorney General focused on several Valve games and put the company in a difficult spot. The lawsuit accuses the company behind Steam of operating in unlawful gambling practices. In fact, the Attorney General described the lootbox systems in Dota 2, CS2, and Team Fortress 2 as addictive, harmful and illegal and wants Valve to stop promoting them in the state.
Following the accusations, Valve came out with an official response that it published on Steam. According to it, Valve tried to educate the authorities about the situation, but it seems like it did not work. “In the process of cooperating with the NYAG’s investigation, we shared with them our efforts over many years to shut down accounts found to be using Valve game items on gambling sites in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement. We also shared with them our efforts to combat fraud and theft of users’ items and our extraordinary measures to stop gambling sites from taking advantage of Steam accounts and Valve game items. Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites.”
According to the company, this kind of business model is not new and it has been around for many years. Valve also makes a point that these kinds of products are also used in the tangible world and gives examples with Pokémon cards and basketball card packs.
Furthermore, Valve stated that players do not have to open mystery boxes to play any of the games. The company also opposed the idea that players should NOT be able to trade their items between each other.
Valve emphasized that it restricts the amount of personal data it gathers and believes users expect their information to be treated with care.
During the investigation, Valve highlighted the measures it has implemented to combat gambling-related abuse on its platform. The company clarified that it does not collaborate with gambling websites and has taken action against accounts involved in such activities. Valve revealed that over a million Steam accounts have been banned due to links with gambling, fraud, or theft involving in-game items. The company also pointed to features like trade reversals and trade cooldowns as tools to mitigate exploitation of item trading systems.
Additionally, Valve stated that businesses related to gambling are banned from sponsoring tournaments linked to its games.
What’s Next?
This is definitely an interesting situation and it seems like we will have to wait for the court battle to see what will happen. An interesting fact is that Valve addressed the allegations that video games impact real-world violence. “Those extraneous comments are a distraction and a mischaracterization we’ve all heard before. Numerous studies throughout the years have concluded there is no link between media (movies, TV, books, comics, music, and games) and real-world violence. Indeed, many studies highlight the beneficial impact of games on users.”
The response finishes with the fact that there will be a battle in court, so this is definitely a case we will keep a close eye on.
