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Valve has finally responded to the lawsuit filed weeks earlier by New York Attorney General Letitia James, defending its use of mystery boxes in Counter‑Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2.
The Attorney General accuses the company of running illegal gambling operations by allowing players to pay for loot boxes that contain random cosmetic items, some of which can be sold for thousands of dollars.
James argued that the system mirrors slot machines and exposes children to gambling behaviour, demanding Valve surrender profits and face fines.
Valve rejects the claim, saying loot boxes are optional, cosmetic, and comparable to collectible packs like baseball cards. The company insist it does not cooperate with gambling sites and has locked more than a million accounts tied to fraud and betting.
Valve says AG is overreaching
In its response, Valve compared loot boxes to collectible packs like Pokémon or baseball cards, stressing that players who never open them face no disadvantage.
The company highlighted its enforcement record, noting that it has locked over one million accounts tied to gambling, fraud, and theft: Valve also pointed to features like trade cooldowns and reversals designed to limit abuse.
The firm rejected the AG’s demand to remove transferability of digital items, arguing that the ability to trade or sell unwanted skins benefits consumers. “We think the transferability of a digital game item is good for consumers,” Valve said, adding that stripping this right would harm players and developers alike.
Valve criticized the AG’s proposals as overreaching, particularly demands to collect more personal data for age verification and track users worldwide to prevent VPN masking. The company argued that existing payment systems already provide age checks and that invasive monitoring would compromise privacy.
Valve insists it will comply if New York passes new laws through a public process, but refuses to adopt unilateral demands that go beyond current statutes. “It may have been easier and cheaper for Valve to make a deal with the NYAG, but we believed the type of deal that would satisfy the NYAG would have been bad for users and other game developers,” the company said.
“Ultimately, a court will decide whose position, ours or NYAG’s, is correct. In the meantime, we wanted to make sure you were aware of the potential impact to users in New York and elsewhere.”
Valve also facing fresh lawsuit in Washington
Valve’s legal troubles over loot boxes have now spread beyond New York, with a new class‑action complaint filed in Washington state.
The case, brought by law firm Hagens Berman, accuses the company of “knowingly operating unlawful gambling through its loot box system.” Managing partner Steve Berman said in a statement, “Consumers played these games for entertainment, unaware that Valve had allegedly already stacked the odds against them. We intend to hold Valve accountable and put money back in the pockets of consumers.”
According to the filing, Valve deliberately built the system to mirror the casino experience, complete with slot‑machine visuals and psychological triggers that encourage repeated spending.
Valve didn’t respond to the second lawsuit in its Thursday statement.
