In a statement published on its website, Valve publicly pushed back against the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James.
Filed in February, the lawsuit claims Valve promotes “illegal gambling” through its use of loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2. It also called the loot boxes “quintessential gambling” and claimed they violated New York’s Constitution and Penal Law.
Valve pushed back against the notion its loot boxes constitute gambling. “We don’t believe that they do, and were disappointed to see the NYAG make that claim after working to educate them about our virtual items and mystery boxes since they first reached out to us in early 2023,” reads the post.
Valve said loot boxes are “widely used” across other mediums, including playing cards like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon, baseball cards, and Labubu.
It also said it’s actively pushing back against gambling sites that use Valve items. The company claims it has shut down over one million Steam accounts caught engaging in gambling activities.
Valve also pushed back against collecting personal data for age verification and determine if a resident is using a virtual private network (VPN).
“The type of commitments the NYAG demanded from Valve went far beyond what existing New York law requires and even beyond New York itself,” reads the post.
“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, and impacted our ability to innovate in game design.”
Valve confirmed it plans to fight the lawsuit. However, it also said it would comply with any regulations related to loot boxes.
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