Valve sued again over loot boxes in Counter-Strike, Dota 2

3 days ago 5

Published Mar 10, 2026, 11:05 AM EDT

Lawsuit alleges Valve's loot boxes are a form of 'unlawful gambling'

Various characters in different skins posing in Counter Strike 2

In February, New York state's attorney general Letitia James sued Valve over the company's inclusion of loot boxes in its games, calling them "quintessential gambling." Now, Valve is facing a similar class-action lawsuit in Washington state.

Law firm Hagens Berman filed the lawsuit on Monday, accusing Valve of "knowingly operating unlawful gambling through its loot box system," according to a news release. Hagens Berman founder and managing partner Steve Berman said, "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."

Hagens Berman names games like the Counter-Strike series (including Counter-Strike 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 as titles in which "Valve may have profited from illegal gambling."

Loot boxes have become commonplace in a multitude of paid and free-to-play multiplayer and single-player games. Typically, they involve the player paying real-world money for a loot box that contains random items, like character or weapon skins. In games like Counter-Strike 2, loot boxes are given away and unlocked via purchasable keys. Those items are often of varying rarities, and in some cases can be resold for eye-watering sums of real-world money on third-party marketplaces. Last fall, an update to Counter-Strike 2 made certain very rare items easier to obtain in-game, putting the cosmetics economy in a free fall.

The new lawsuit alleges Valve intentionally created its loot box system in a way that mimics the casino experience, including slot machine-like visuals and psychological triggers to ensure people continue to spend money opening boxes. The lawsuit describes Valve's loot boxes as a "deliberate, carefully engineered revenue model," pointing out that Valve profits both from the sale of a key and through a cut of a user resale of an item on the Steam Community Market. You can read the full class-action complaint for more detail.

Like the New York state lawsuit, part of the Washington class-action lawsuit argues that the opening of these loot boxes, which the lawsuit alleges is a form of illegal gambling, is particularly harmful for children. "Valve knew children were on the other end of these transactions," Berman said. "Rather than protect young players through age verification or a parental consent mechanism, we believe they rigged the game to extract more money from them."

Valve has not yet publicly commented on either lawsuit. We'll have to wait and see if more lawsuits are levied against Valve or other gaming companies with similar loot box models.

Read Entire Article