Breaking: New York Attorney General's office sues Valve for "Promoting Illegal Gambling Through Video Games"

The New York Attorney General's office under the leadership of Letitia James have today announced a suit against Valve, the creators and published of Counter-Strike, for allegedly "illegally promoting gambling through video games popular with children and teenagers" via skins and other collectable items in their games.

The lawsuit by the New York AG alleges that Valve have made billions of dollars from items in CS2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 while profiting off of "addictive and harmful" features and mechanics "that entice users to pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item of significant monetary value."

The New York AG's suit aims to force Valve to remove features it considers illegal gambling, disgorge all ill-gotten gains, and pay fines for violating New York’s laws. The lawsuit comes amidst recent efforts by Valve to require tournament organizers and teams to remove all sponsors that use Valve IP in an unauthorized manner (for example game case opening sites or skin trading sites) from operating in the esports ecosystem.

This suit by the New York Attorney General's office marks one of the first serious attempts in the United States by a state government or a federal government to regulate and/or ban loot boxes and similar mechanics.

With the legal process still in its early days, it is hard to know how the case will turn out or what the implications may be, however it could force Valve to completely revamp their business model in their flagship esports titles.

The full lawsuit can be read here.