Valve Faces New Legal Challenge Over Loot Box Mechanics in Games
In February, New York state’s attorney general Letitia James took legal action against Valve, labeling the company’s loot boxes as “quintessential gambling.” Now, Valve is facing a similar class-action lawsuit in Washington state.
The law firm Hagens Berman filed the lawsuit on Monday, claiming that Valve is “knowingly operating unlawful gambling through its loot box system.” Steve Berman, the firm’s founder and managing partner, stated, “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.”
The lawsuit highlights popular titles such as the Counter-Strike series (including Counter-Strike 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2, suggesting that “Valve may have profited from illegal gambling.”
Loot boxes have become a staple in many paid and free-to-play multiplayer and single-player games. Players typically spend real money to acquire loot boxes that contain random items, such as character or weapon skins. In games like Counter-Strike 2, loot boxes can be obtained and unlocked using purchasable keys. These items often vary in rarity and can sometimes be resold for significant amounts on third-party marketplaces. An update to Counter-Strike 2 last fall made certain rare items easier to obtain, causing a significant drop in the cosmetics economy.
The new lawsuit claims that Valve designed its loot box system to replicate the casino experience, featuring slot machine-like visuals and psychological triggers to encourage players to keep spending money. It describes Valve’s loot boxes as a “deliberate, carefully engineered revenue model,” noting that Valve profits from both key sales and a percentage of user resales on the Steam Community Market.
Similar to the New York lawsuit, the Washington class-action suit argues that the act of opening these loot boxes, which it claims constitutes illegal gambling, poses particular risks to children. Berman remarked, “Valve knew children were on the other end of these transactions. Rather than protect young players through age verification or a parental consent mechanism, we believe they rigged the game to extract more money from them.”
Valve has yet to publicly respond to either lawsuit. It remains to be seen if additional legal actions will be taken against Valve or other gaming companies employing similar loot box systems.
