Valve, the operator of Steam, officially responds to the lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General alleging that gacha games are illegal.
Valve, the company behind the PC gaming platform Steam, has been sued by the New York State Attorney General. Valve has officially responded to the lawsuit on its official support page.
Steam Support :: About the New York Attorney General lawsuit against Valve
Valve Has Publicly Responded To The New York Attorney General's Mystery Box Lawsuit - Game Informer
https://gameinformer.com/2026/03/11/valve-has-publicly-responded-to-the-new-york-attorney-generals-mystery-box-lawsuit
On February 25, 2026, local time, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Valve, the operator of the PC gaming platform Steam, alleging that the company 'encouraged illegal gambling through games popular with children and young people.' Attorney General James's argument that 'gacha' is illegal is summarized in the article below.
New York Attorney General sues Steam operator Valve, calling gacha 'a classic example of gambling' - GIGAZINE
In response to this, Steam posted a response to the lawsuit on its official support page on March 11, 2026 local time.
Valve posted a statement to New York State users who play the Valve games named in the lawsuit, including Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2. 'You may be aware that the New York Attorney General recently filed a lawsuit against Valve alleging that mystery boxes (also known as gacha) in some of our games violate New York State gambling law. We do not believe we violate New York State law. We are disappointed that this allegation has been made, given that we have been working to inform the New York Attorney General about our original virtual items and mystery boxes since we first contacted him in early 2023. We rarely discuss lawsuits, but we felt it was necessary to explain the situation,' the statement read.
'We informed the New York Attorney General that these types of boxes featured in our games are widely used not only in games but also in the real world. In the real world, generations have grown up opening baseball card packs, blind boxes, and bags and buying and selling the items they received. On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Luv-Boo. Digital packs similar to our mystery boxes have been widely used in the gaming industry since 2004. Opening mystery boxes is not required to play Valve games. In fact, most players simply play the games without opening the boxes. Because the items inside the boxes are merely cosmetic, there is no disadvantage to players for not spending money on them.' Valve claims that in-game mystery boxes are simply bought and sold in the same way as popular real-world products like card games and Luv-Boo.
In addition, Valve revealed that in the course of cooperating with the New York State Attorney General's Office's investigation, it has reported on its long-standing efforts to close accounts selling Valve game items on gambling sites in violation of Steam's Terms of Service.
Valve also shared its efforts to combat fraud and theft of users' items, and details specific measures it takes to prevent gambling sites from misusing Steam accounts and Valve game items. Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites, and has blocked over one million Steam accounts that have been misused by third parties in connection with gambling, fraud, or theft.
Valve also rolled out new features to prevent gambling sites and protect Steam users from fraud, such as trade cancellations and trade cooldowns, and also bans gambling-related companies from participating in or sponsoring tournaments for Valve games.
The New York Attorney General's Office argues that 'mystery boxes and their contents should not be transferable.' This is because the New York Attorney General's Office believes that in-game digital mystery boxes and items are different from physical items like baseball card packs (containing random cards), and objects to the fact that users can transfer items they receive through
However, Valve believes that the transferability of digital game items is beneficial to consumers because it allows users to trade old or unwanted items for other items, just as they can buy and sell physical items like Pokémon cards or baseball cards. The New York Attorney General's Office is seeking to remove users' ability to transfer digital items from Valve games, and Valve believes that this transferability should not be taken away. Therefore, Valve explained that it will reject the New York Attorney General's claims.
The New York Attorney General's Office also proposed collecting additional information about gamers in case New York residents use VPNs or other methods to anonymize their location and make it appear as if they are outside of New York. Valve criticized this proposal, saying, 'This would amount to deploying invasive technology against all our users worldwide.'
The New York Attorney General's Office is also demanding that Valve collect more personal data from users to strengthen age verification, arguing that 'this is despite the fact that most payment methods used by Steam users in New York already have built-in age verification. Valve recognizes that users value the security of their personal information and believes it is in Valve's and its users' interests to collect only the information necessary to operate our business and comply with laws and regulations.'
Valve stated that it 'respects New York's right to regulate state activities' and would comply if the New York State Legislature passed a mystery box law. However, Valve added, 'Despite having considered this issue several times, the New York State Legislature has not yet passed one. Such legislation would likely be enacted through a public process incorporating input from the industry and New York gamers. The types of obligations the New York Attorney General required of Valve far exceed the requirements of New York's current law and even the scope of New York's jurisdiction. While a deal with the New York Attorney General might have been easier and less expensive for Valve, we believed that a deal that satisfied the New York Attorney General would be disadvantageous to users and other game developers and would negatively impact our ability to innovate in game design.'
While the court will ultimately decide whether Valve or the New York Attorney General's position is correct, Valve explained that it 'wanted to make this response publicly available to help users understand the potential impact this may have on users in New York and elsewhere.'
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