New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that the stat will be suing Valve over its loot-box mechanics in games such as Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and others.
According to the state, these “surprise mechanics” may run afoul of state gambling laws, especially when targeted towards young people.
In a press release, James had this to say about Valve.
“Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious addiction problems, especially for our young people… Valve has made billions of dollars by letting children and adults alike illegally gamble for the chance to win valuable virtual prizes. These features are addictive, harmful, and illegal, and my office is suing to stop Valve’s illegal conduct and protect New Yorkers.”
Loot-boxes have been a feature in many online games for over a decade. However Valve games in particular add another layer of financial complexity, the Steam Marketplace.
For those unaware, the Steam Marketplace allows users to sell Steam items, usually wallpapers, badges, and other profile things from crafting badges with Steam Trading Cards (which are also sold on the Marketplace). But many games from Valve also allow players to sell their in-game items. Sometimes for literal thousands of dollars.
This has created a strange economy where you trade earbuds for scrap, or take out a loan just to buy a knife skin. To Valve’s credit, they rolled out an update which allowed Counter-Strike players to craft skins using materials earned in-game by opening lootboxes, drastically dropping the prices of many items.
The state of New York is suing Valve “to permanently stop Valve from promoting gambling features in its games, disgorge all ill-gotten gains, and pay fines for violating New York’s laws”.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
