Yes, they do. And when you charge for surprises that can be of varying value, what do we call that?
this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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Agreed, though NY should be going after everyone involved in 'Surprise Mechanics', not just Valve.
It's not unusual to target specific entities first to try and set a precedent. Going after everyone at once would likely spread their efforts too thin.
Not wrong, but there are more worthy targets to go after first. Ones that have treated their customers far, far worse than Valve.
Just because Valve does great things elsewhere doesn't mean Valve should get a free pass on running a 5 billion market gap gambling economy. And that's 5 billion AFTER Valve nuked 3 billion from the market. I think people don't fully comprehend how sickeningly huge the CS skin market is.
What other company operates loot boxes at the same scale as Valve?
I don't recall suggesting Valve getting a free pass, nor downplaying the CS skin market being an issue. What I'm saying is Valve at least turns that money to some good, unlike its contemporaries in the veiled gambling space.
Saying "don't go after Valve (right now), instead go after these other bad companies I won't name" isn't giving a free pass to Valve? My bad.
And let's not act like Valve isn't raking in money. They don't need gambling money to do good.
Also
What other company operates loot boxes at the same scale as Valve?
Yes, they do. And when you charge for surprises that can be of varying value, what do we call that?
Pokemon cards
it's so good it's very habit forming, moreish, irresistible, if only there was a word for that
las valvus
Daily reminder that corporation arent your frens. Not even when gabe shaped.
New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against the company, which claims loot boxes in its games such as Counter-Strike 2 promote illegal gambling and threaten to addict children.
Both CS and TF2 are rated M. Children shouldn't be playing them in the first place.🤷♂️
to deem loot boxes illegal gambling, because doing so would mean the likes of baseball cards, Happy Meal toys, and even Labubu blind boxes would be considered gambling, too.
You know what, do it. Make it illegal. Fuck MTG and Pokemon card collectors. 🥳🥳🥳
Yeah, hockey and baseball cards used to be fine, then they became speculative assets.
Now, you have YouTube videos of kids opening packs and talking about how much they're worth.
It's fucking gambling. I did some work for that industry, 80% of sales were from addicts. I'm talking about people spending thousands a week on baseball/basketball/football cards. People openly talked about it in the industry as gambling. I've personally seen the numbers.
It's fucking gambling.
I bet they'd enjoy surprises they didn't have to pay for even more.
People enjoy surprises
Not when it's a surprise bill.
"Surprise! You owe money!"
I always thought of steam as neutral evil for being a corporation, but that was just plain wrong of me. Compare them to Digital Extreme and the fact they accidentally created a lucrative loot box and prompt remove from the game. They actually called the mechanic a slot machine instead of surprise mechanic.
From a documentary: https://youtu.be/NA5vT1LooXk?t=1360
Yep. People (gamers) give Valve way too much leeway. They pretty much invented the loot box and controll almost the entire PC gaming market, extracting a huge pile of wealth in doing so.
"But Homer, the grocery store sells sugar for a dollar a pound. And it doesn't have nails and bits of broken glass in it."
"Those are prizes"
People also enjoy gambling. At first.
Unfortunately, not just at first.
I'm guessing it's related to cs2/tf2 ? If so why go for a company with 2 games and not EA that has eighty?
I thought EA moved away from lootboxes once Europe started passing laws in 2017 and 2018. Isn't that why battle passes are all the rage now?
Their sports games are full of it.
Battle passes are a preferred monetization method because it forces people to play the game.
Great, let's get NY to regulate Polymarket and their stock market too!
And they already made it worse - new "cases" just go over the items 1 by 1 and give you a choice to buy each one right then and there at stupid prices. Wouldn't surprise me if this makes Valve even more of a giant in the end, because these people have absolutely no idea what they are even trying to achieve with these lawsuits.
Are they struggling to keep the steam machine out of the bullshit ancillary markets before it even launches
Okay Valve please go back to doing nothing and winning thanks
Steam machine, steam deck, stream controller, steam frame, etc?
You're right I was gravely mistaken I will now downvote myself XD
But guys, Gaben cares about gamers and isn't like the rest of them. They are the cool monopoly!