Valve argues mystery boxes are 'widely used' in the tangible world
Valve claims that mystery boxes are widely used not just in video games but in the tangible world as well, comparing the virtual objects to opening baseball card packs or Labubus.
The argument is part of a statement issued by the company yesterday in response to the New York Attorney General's lawsuit (NYAG) against Valve. The lawsuit alleges that the game developer and distributor is promoting illegal gambling through video games like Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2 and their respective ecosystems, deeming that the titles have "slot machine-like features that entice users to pay for the chance to win rare prizes that can be exchanged for money."
As such, the lawsuit, which was presented on February 25, alleges that Valve's in-game loot box feature violates New York's gambling laws and "can lead to serious harms," especially for young people.
"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 statement from Valve.
"We shared with the NYAG that these types of boxes in our games are widely used, not just in video games but in the tangible world as well, where generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive. On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokémon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu. In the game space, digital packs similar to our boxes date back to 2004 and are in widespread use."
The company then argues that players don't have to open mystery boxes to play its games, as the items in the boxes are "purely cosmetic," and as such, there's no disadvantage to a player not spending money.
Valves says it shared information about internal efforts to shut down accounts found to be using Valve game items on gambling sites in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement, saying that "Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites." The company adds that it has locked over one million Steam accounts that were being misused by third parties in connection with gambling, fraud, and theft.
Valve is bullish on item transferabilityThe company also has "serious concerns with many of the alterations" the NYAG claims are necessary to make to its games. Mainly, Valve disputes the claim that the items shouldn't be transferable.
"We think the transferability of a digital game item is good for consumers—it gives a user the ability to sell or trade an old or unwanted item for something else, in the same way an owner can sell or trade a tangible item like a Pokémon or baseball card," the company writes. "NYAG proposes to take away users ability to transfer their digital items from Valve games. Transferability is a right we believe should not be taken away, and we refuse to do that."
“Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious addiction problems, especially for our young people,” said Attorney General James in the lawsuit. “Valve has made billions of dollars by letting children and adults alike illegally gamble for the chance to win valuable virtual prizes. These features are addictive, harmful, and illegal, and my office is suing to stop Valves illegal conduct and protect New Yorkers.”
Valve's statement concludes saying that it respects New York's right to determine the laws governing behavior in the state, and that it will comply if the New York legislature passes laws governing mystery boxes.
"The type of commitments the NYAG demanded from Valve went far beyond what existing New York law requires and even beyond New York itself. 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," the company says.
