Valve rebuts New York lawsuit, says deal would hurt users and developers

Two weeks after the state of New York sued Valve for "letting children and adults illegally gamble," Valve issued a rare public rebuttal. It said the containers in its games do not constitute gambling under the state's laws and expressed disappointment that the attorney general's office pursued the case despite Valve's efforts "to educate them about our virtual items and mystery boxes." Valve said the attorney general first raised concerns in early 2023, and it compared loot boxes to baseball cards, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Labubu.

The company argued all items in its loot boxes are cosmetic so "there is no disadvantage to a player not spending money," and added it "does not cooperate with gambling sites" and has "locked over one million Steam accounts" misused "in connection with gambling, fraud, and theft." It highlighted features shipped to discourage gambling and protect users, such as trade reversal and trade cooldown, and said it forbids any gambling-related business to participate in or sponsor tournaments.

United States, New York

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