We don’t typically cover legal matters, but Valve rarely speaks publicly about litigation. So when the company posts an open letter to its players, it’s probably worth paying attention. The New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Valve back in February, alleging that mystery boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 violate New York gambling laws. Today, Valve responded directly to its player base, and it’s clear the company isn’t backing down.
In its statement, Valve argues that mystery boxes are nothing new, pointing to decades of physical products like packs baseball cards, Pokémon cards, Magic: The Gathering boosters, and Labubu blind boxes that operate on the same principle. The company also notes that players don’t need to open mystery boxes to play its games, since the items inside are purely cosmetic. Valve says it has been working to educate the NYAG about its virtual items since the office first reached out in early 2023, and was disappointed to see the lawsuit filed anyway.
What’s most interesting is where Valve draws its line. The NYAG apparently wants mystery box items to not be transferable, which would remove the ability to trade or sell items through Steam Trading and the Community Market. Valve flat out refuses to do that, comparing it to taking away someone’s ability to sell or trade a physical baseball card. The NYAG also reportedly demanded that Valve collect additional personal data to verify ages and detect users who might be masking their location with a VPN, even for users outside of New York. Valve pushed back on that too, saying it would require invasive data collection for every user worldwide.
Valve also took the opportunity to highlight its efforts against gambling sites, noting that it has locked over one million Steam accounts connected to gambling, fraud, and theft. The company says it shipped features like trade reversal and trade cooldowns specifically to discourage gambling sites from operating, and that it forbids any gambling-related business from participating in or sponsoring tournaments for its games.
The statement ends with Valve acknowledging that a court will ultimately decide the outcome, but making it clear that it chose to fight rather than settle. The company says the deal the NYAG wanted would have been bad for users and other game developers, and would have impacted Valve’s ability to innovate. Valve also took a moment to push back on comments the NYAG made about games and real world violence, calling them “a distraction and a mischaracterization” that has been debunked by numerous studies over the years.
Regardless of where you stand on loot boxes, this is one of those cases that could have far-reaching consequences for the entire industry. If the NYAG succeeds, it could set a precedent that impacts how every game with randomized purchasable items operates, not just in New York, but potentially across the country.
