Valve is hit with yet another lawsuit.
The pressure on Valve continues to grow. Following a $900 million lawsuit in the UK, New York authorities are now targeting the company, alleging that its loot box system promotes illegal gambling.
New York Says Counter-Strike Loot Boxes Cross the Line
When you think of Counter-Strike, you might also think of OhnePixel sitting in front of his screen, opening a loot box and passionately shouting, “Gold, gold, gold!”
However, if the State of New York has its way, that could soon come to an end. The state sees loot boxes and skin trading in Counter-Strike and on the Steam Marketplace as a major issue. As a result, New York is now taking Valve to court. Attorney General Letitia James posted on X:
"Valve, a video game developer, has made billions of dollars by letting children and adults illegally gamble for the chance to win valuable virtual prizes. These features are addictive and harmful. That's why I'm suing to stop Valve’s unlawful conduct and protect New Yorkers."
She added that she wants to permanently stop Valve from promoting any form of gambling in its games. In addition, the lawsuit seeks restitution for affected players in New York, which could amount to tens of millions of dollars. The case is rooted in New York’s gambling laws, which prohibit most forms of gambling unless they are explicitly authorized by the state, something Valve does not have. We will have to wait and see what consequences this lawsuit will have.
After the lawsuit in the UK, this new legal action is also causing confusion among players. While the crackdown on loot boxes and gambling in general is seen by many as a good thing, some are questioning why Steam in particular is being targeted. Sure, Steam arguably hosts the largest market for in-game microtransactions through Counter-Strike loot boxes, but gambling mechanics in video games are far from being a Valve-only issue. Titles like Genshin Impact, NBA 2K, and especially EA FC rely on similar systems, so why are those companies not being taken to court as well?
Perhaps all those case opening streams, screaming “Gold” off the top of your lungs, did not exactly help the optics.
