Valve has responded to an ongoing lawsuit filed in New York that claims it violated gambling laws with its loot boxes. Valve’s response: No.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Valve this month over loot boxes. One includes New York’s Attorney General Letitia James stating that Valve must be stopped from “promoting gambling features” and should be paying fines for violating New York’s gambling laws.

Valve has denied these allegations. It wrote on Steam: “We shared with the NYAG that these types of boxes in our games are widely used, not just in video games but in the tangible world as well, where generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive.

“On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Labubu. In the game space, digital packs similar to our boxes date back to 2004 and are in widespread use.”

In addition to being a common practice, Valve also noted that gamers don’t have to open boxes to play their games. Loot boxes only contain cosmetic stuff, and players aren’t at a disadvantage if they pass on the practice.

“[The NYAG] appear to assume digital mystery boxes and items in our games are different from tangible items like baseball card packs (which contain random cards), and to take issue with the fact that users have the ability to transfer the items they receive through Steam Trading or user-to-user sales on the Community Market,” Valve wrote.

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More Out of Touch Normies and Boomers Hating on Video Games

Based on the statements above, I’d already say it’s safe to assume that the NY Attorney General is not the most game-savvy person. She doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the concept of loot boxes and how they work.

But Valve pointed out other language throughout her lawsuit that strongly suggested she is probably just a hater. She did the old “video games cause real-world violence” thing that’s been a far-fetched talking point since the 1990s. Valve brought up that studies have disproven this, pointing out that television shows, music, and even books (BOOK GOOD, VIDEO GAME BAD) have portrayed violence that was not re-enacted by an otherwise innocent child.

It’s tough to take the lawsuit seriously. However, I’m not a fan of loot boxes. It’s one of those “wrong messenger” type things.

Even though loot boxes are common in video games and similar to blind boxes and card packs, that doesn’t make the practice okay. In fact, we shouldn’t be normalizing gambling to kids at all. And like Pokémon, Valve’s loot boxes may not matter to the game, but they do potentially lead to real money, making them even more addictive and gambling-like.

Counter-Strike 2’s skin market has remained huge, even after Valve’s devastating changes led to massive losses. This has definitely led to the loot boxes being more popular to buy than they would be in a game like Overwatch, where the skins are worthless.

Noted one concerned gamer on Reddit: “Because CS skins can be exchanged for real money, you’re basically giving everyone in the game, including children, access to a functional slot machine.”

While I think the NYAG is full of crap, I do think that loot boxes need to be regulated. I mean, Blizzard was forced to change how Overwatch’s loot boxes worked, essentially not allowing you to buy them. I think Valve does deserve a bit of scrutiny in this subject matter. I just don’t think we need to start absolutely panicking and calling for strict bans over a video game’s crates.