It’ll be up to a court to decide whether there’s merit to the New York attorney general’s lawsuit against Valve, which claims that loot boxes are, essentially, gambling. But Valve is already attempting to win the battle in the court of public opinion. In a new statement addressed to fans of games like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 in New York, the company says it has “serious concerns” about the demands expressed by NYAG Letitia James and her office.
Valve, naturally, does not believe that its “mystery boxes” violate New York gambling laws. The company says in its statement that it was “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. We rarely talk about litigation, but we felt we should explain the situation to you.”
Valve also claims the NYAG “demanded” that the company “collect more personal data about our users to do additional age verification.” That’s exactly the sort of privacy incursion that’s gotten people so mad at Discord recently, and Valve is keen for the brownie points in pushing against that. The company says it “knows our users care about the security of their personal information, and we believe it’s in our and their interest to only collect the information necessary to operate the business and comply with law.”
Valve says it would “of course comply if the New York legislature passes laws governing mystery boxes – something it has not done despite considering the issue a few times,” since that would be that kind of law “would be the result of a public process, presumably with input from the industry and New York gamers.” For now, though, it does intend to fight the NYAG’s lawsuit.
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