Og så handler det om loot boxes igen, den tilfældigt genererede belønning, som der en gang var enormt skub i, og som så blev kritiseret fra nær og fjern af forbrugere, talspersoner og medier, indtil branchen langsomt trak dem tilbage.
Valve har dog holdt ved, og sælger stadig loot boxes i et væk i Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 og Team Fortress 2. De blev nylig sagsøgt af New Yorks Attorney General for den her praksis, og slog igen fast at dette både er hasardspil, og at de benyttes af et alt, alt for ungt publikum.
Valve har nu responderet, og forsvarer sig med at loot boxes, i deres øjne, ikke er meget anderledes end samlekort:
"You may have seen the New York Attorney General recently filed a lawsuit against Valve claiming mystery boxes (like crates, cases, and chests) in some of our games violate New York gambling laws. We don't believe that they do, and were disappointed to see the NYAG make that claim after working to educate them about our virtual items and mystery boxes since they first reached out to us in early 2023. We rarely talk about litigation, but we felt we should explain the situation to you. Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites. To date, we've locked over one million Steam accounts that were being misused by third parties in connection with gambling, fraud and theft. We've also shipped features (like trade reversal and trade cooldown) to discourage gambling sites' ability to operate and protect Steam users from fraud. And we forbid any gambling-related business to participate in or sponsor tournaments for our games."
Såkaldt skin gambling er dog en milliardindustri, men hundredevis, hvis ikke tusindvis, af sites der bliver en slags gateway for mange meget unge spillere til hasardspil - det er uomtvisteligt, men om hvorivdt dette kan spores tilbage til Valves og loot boxes' konkrete praksis, det skal retten så vise.