Citing the alleged promotion of gambling against minors, New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Valve. The lawsuit claims this is in direct violation of state regulations on the matter, and the ultimate goal, should the court rule in James' favor, is to end these practices and require fees to be paid as damages.
The landmark lawsuit, if successful, would be another tidal wave in a longstanding gaming practice that has faced significant backlash in the many years since loot boxes first became a popular money-making tool among US-based publishers. James takes aim at such popular Valve titles as Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, and the filing, unsurprisingly, doesn't mince words.
“Serious harm, especially to young people”
“Illegal gambling can be harmful and lead to serious substance abuse problems, especially for our youth,” the press release accompanying the lawsuit states. Further down, it notes that “the value of Counter-Strike's skins increased significantly in recent years, attracting speculators and investors who saw these virtual items as potentially lucrative digital assets.”
And that's no exaggeration, to be sure. We've seen a single weapon command a $1,000,000 price tag in the real world on Counter-Strike 2's marketplace. We have seen how the game has directly crashed over the valuation. And that's just Counter-Strike. Valve has really gone off the rails, some might argue, with other games that happen to have “2” in their titles. Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2 are the Attorney General's other big targets.
“Valve's loot box model can be particularly harmful to children. Attorney General James claims that young users with limited means may be enticed to start playing through loot boxes in the hope of obtaining a virtual item that they believe will enhance their status in the games' virtual worlds. Research has shown that children who are introduced to games are four times more likely to develop a problem later in life, even if those who are not later in life will not develop an illegal problem than games. games, it is important to note that Valve's marketing games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, especially among young gamers who can be numbed to violent violence before their brains are fully developed.”
Suffice it to say, there is a lot to analyze in all of this. Letitia James claims that Valve has made billions of dollars by committing acts that, according to the allegations, do not comply with New York law. The effort, as the press release emphasizes, comes from an alleged place of protecting children. At a time when Roblox, which has a greater share of game hours than Steam, PlayStation and Fortnite (!) combined, is being sued from across the US and beyond, there has been a lot of talk about the protection of children.
Whether this qualifies as something as serious is in the eye of the beholder, but Letitia James is certainly adamant that it is. “While users are provided with a standard set of guns and knives at the start of CounterStrike [sic]”, the official application document states, “they can apply skins to their weapons as symbols of status and wealth.” You can read the entire application here, but grab a snack before you do. It's 52 pages long.
These Parents Wish Roblox Never Existed – Why Could This Game Ever Shake The Association With Predators?
Roblox's Age Verification Launch Is a Disaster, But It's Also Facing Lawsuits Over Online Predator Problem – Where Did It All Go Wrong?
