Valve said point-blank that transferability of in-game items “is a right we believe should not be taken away, and we refuse to do that” despite the NYAG’s request. Valve also said it has worries about an NYAG proposal that would require Valve to collect “additional information” from players “on the off-chance someone in New York was anonymizing their location to appear outside of New York, such as by using a VPN.” Such processes, and others to further establish that children were not reselling items, would be an “invasive” violation for every Steam user, Valve wrote.
Valve said it has been “working to educate” the NYAG’s office on loot boxes since they first reached out on the matter in 2023. And while Valve said it would respect any state law that explicitly outlawed randomized loot boxes in games, the NYAG’s lawsuit “went far beyond what existing New York law requires and even beyond New York itself.” Thus, even though it might be easier for Valve to just settle the case, such an outcome “would have been bad for users and other game developers, and impacted our ability to innovate in game design.”
Outside of the New York case, law firm Hagens Berman is preparing a proposed class-action lawsuit in Washington state accusing Valve of “extract[ing] money from consumers, including children, through deceptive, casino-style psychological tactics.” That lawsuit’s arguments focus heavily on Valve’s alleged use of “psychological triggers” like “unpredictable reward schedules, sensory design, near-miss illusions, chasing losses and around-the-clock availability” to form an addictive gambling loop.
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