Less than two weeks after New York state sued Valve for “letting children and adults illegally gamble” with loot boxes, a second, consumer class-action lawsuit has been filed making essentially the same allegation: That loot boxes in Valve games, like Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2 are “carefully engineered to extract money from consumers, including children, through deceptive, casino-style psychological tactics.”
“We believe Valve deliberately engineered its gambling platform and profited enormously from it,” Steve Berman, founder and managing partner at law firm Hagens Berman, said in a press release. “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.”
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The full complaint points out that the unlocking process is even designed to look like a slot machine: “Images of possible items scroll across the screen, spinning fast at first, then slowing to a stop on the player’s ‘prize.’ Players buy and open loot boxes for the same reason people play slot machines—the hope of a valuable payout.”
And while the debate over whether loot boxes constitute a form of gambling continues to rage, the suit claims Valve’s system does indeed qualify under Washington law, which defines gambling as “as “staking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence.”
“Valve’s loot boxes satisfy every element of this definition,” the lawsuit alleges. “Users stake money (the price of a key) on the outcome of a contest of chance (the random selection of a virtual item), and the items received are ‘things of value’ under RCW 9.46.0285 because they can be sold for real money through Valve’s own marketplace and through third-party marketplaces that Valve has fostered and facilitated.”
“What sets the New York case apart from prior litigation is the [New York] AG’s argument that the virtual items won from Valve’s loot boxes are genuinely valuable—not just subjectively meaningful to gamers, but convertible to real money in a publicly visible and recognizable manner.” McGinn continues, “The New York case is not constrained by California’s consumer protection framework or its ‘thing of value’ jurisprudence. New York’s Penal Law defines gambling broadly as staking something of value on a contest of chance for the chance to receive something of value in return—without requiring the item to be freely transferable under an authorized marketplace.”
There’s at least one sign that Valve is taking action to comply in advance in some territories. Late last week, Valve announced an “X-ray scanner” feature for Counter-Strike 2 players in Germany, which will enable them to see what’s inside containers before they’re opened—an apparent move to bring CS2’s item system into compliance with the very specific letter of the law.
