On February 25, 2026, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Valve, alleging its games use paid loot boxes to entice users, including children and teenagers, to gamble for valuable virtual items. The lawsuit seeks to stop the practices and obtain disgorgement and fines; these are allegations, not a court finding.
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today sued Valve Corporation (Valve), a video game developer, for illegally promoting gambling through video games popular with children and teenagers. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Valve’s video games, including Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2, enable gambling by enticing users to pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item of significant monetary value. In Valve’s most popular game, the process resembles a slot machine, with an animated spinning wheel that eventually rests on a selected item. The randomly selected virtual items have no in-game functionality but can be sold online for money, with one item reportedly being sold for more than $1 million. The lawsuit alleges that Valve has made billions of dollars luring its users, many of whom are teenagers or younger, to engage in gambling in the hopes of winning expensive virtual items that they can cash in on. With this lawsuit, Attorney General James seeks to permanently stop Valve from continuing to promote illegal gambling in its games and to pay disgorgement and fines.
In October 2026, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticized Valve’s requirement that Steam developers disclose AI-generated content shipped with games, calling it “abhorrent” and a political act that could hurt developers’ revenue. Valve’s policy covers content such as art, sound and narrative, but not efficiency gains from AI tools. Critics said customers deserve disclosure; Valve did not publicly respond in the cited report.
Sweeney is particularly upset with Steam’s AI content disclosure policy, which requires developers to disclose the use of AI in “creating content that ships with your game, and is consumed by players.” This includes content such as artwork, sound, narrative, and localization. It does not include “efficiency gains” through the use of AI tools.
Steam's AI disclosures require devs who use generative AI in their games to spell out how it was used. For example, the disclosure for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 reads, "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets."
A 2023 report based on employee accounts said Valve remained silent after George Floyd’s murder and the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, despite employees’ calls for a statement. It reported that Valve instead gave employees $10,000 each to donate and sponsored the Game Devs of Color Expo. Sources also alleged the company’s mostly white, male workforce and hiring structure hindered diversity efforts.
Following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, employees reportedly wanted the developer to make a statement as other game studios were doing so. Valve ultimately said nothing, as senior staff allegedly stood their ground against the employees that wanted the developer to make a statement.
Sources also told People Make Games of Valve's general diversity problem, as it's mostly made up of white men. One anonymous source said the studio's contractors are somewhat diverse, but things get "more white and more male" higher up the chain. Exceptions are made for HR and finance, which are made up mainly of women.
An alleged lack of diverse staff and a desire to stay apolitical resulted in Valve's tepid response on racial injustice.
Lawsuits and arbitration claims accuse Valve of using Steam pricing restrictions and commissions to curb competition and raise consumer prices; Valve disputes monopoly claims. In a separate dispute, an appellate court reversed a trial ruling and ordered dismissal of Valve’s claims against law firms representing users in arbitration, finding their conduct protected. Other proceedings over consumer and developer claims continued, with outcomes not,
Three Steam customers sued in California’s San Mateo County Superior Court, claiming the virtual store’s dominance stems from an anti-competitive scheme that violates state antitrust law.
Is Valve suing gamers!? Not exactly:
* Steam has been accused of being a PC gaming monopoly that extracts unreasonable fees
* But Valve’s forced arbitration clause kept lawsuits at bay
* So lawyers recruited thousands of gamers to do mass arbitration and force Valve to settle
* Valve got rid of forced arbitration, but thousands of arbitrations continued
* The 9th Circuit has agreed to hear Valve’s proposal to stop the mass arbitration; it’s consolidating those cases under this amusing new name.
Steam is an online platform that allows the developers of video games to sell their games to users. Stream is owned by Valve Corporation. To participate in the Stream platform, the users must first agree to something called the "Stream Subscriber Agreement" also known as the "SSA". Among other things, the SSA provides that if a dispute arises between Valve and a user, the user may not file a lawsuit or participate in a class action, but instead must go to individual binding arbitration.
Valve Corp. has urged a Washington federal judge to grant it permission to directly contact game buyers whom the gaming marketplace company is suing to block them from continuing to arbitrate their antitrust claims, saying some gamers want out of arbitration, but their counsel at Bucher Law PLLC is not responsive to their queries.
Valve Corp. is blocking consumers from arbitrating antitrust claims against the gaming company by refusing to pay $20 million in arbitration fees, a "bad faith" move that flouts a court order granting Valve's bid to compel arbitration, a game buyer told a Washington federal judge in a motion for sanctions.
The company on Friday asked a federal judge in Washington to halt the individual arbitration demands by users of Steam, Valve’s popular online gaming store. The claims accuse Valve of driving up the price for Steam users by barring publishers from discounting their games in other online stores.
A Washington federal court has certified a class of around 32,000 game developers in a case accusing Valve Corp. of blocking competition by enforcing pricing and other restrictions on games sold through its Steam platform.
Game developer Wolfire provided the "needed context" to press forward with what it calls the most important half of a proposed antitrust class action against online gaming giant Valve, a Seattle federal judge said, crediting core parts of the allegations over Valve's 30% commission.
Online gaming giant Valve is fighting certification of a class of some 32,000 gaming publishers that distributed their titles through the company's Steam platform, arguing those publishers have nothing in common to assert any commonality in the alleged creation of a pricing floor that helped sustain Valve's 30% commissions.
Earlier this month, another lawsuit hit Valve in Seattle federal court, filed by four game customers accusing the corporation of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Game developer Wolfire will have to redo its proposed antitrust class action against online gaming giant Valve after a Seattle federal judge found the complaint does not adequately show that Valve's ability to charge a 30% commission is based solely on its alleged efforts to limit game distribution alternatives.
Developer Wolfire Games is asking a Seattle federal judge for class certification in its consolidated antitrust suit against online game seller Valve, saying discovery has brought abundant evidence that the platform uses its most-favored-nation clause to stifle competition and maintain monopoly power.
A report says Valve, Sony and Blizzard face legal action over claims that they stifled competition in the online market. The supplied evidence does not identify the plaintiffs, filing date, specific conduct alleged or outcome.
Gaming giants including Valve, Sony and Blizzard face legal action over claims that they stifled competition in the online market.
At a 2026 Busan Indie Connect Festival Q&A, Valve said it would keep Steam open to games using AI, while requiring developers to disclose AI use. After a developer reported extortion threats involving AI clones, Valve said it would investigate and advised contacting law enforcement; it also recommended ongoing updates and community-building.
Although Valve forces developers to disclose how they use generative AI in making their games, the company refuses to ban the technology's use outright from Steam. Valve also recently recommended that indie developers concerned about AI clones strive to make their original games better through constant updates and community building.
An archived OpenSecrets page reports $525,973 in political contributions for the 2024 cycle associated with Valve. It says the money came from individual members, employees, owners or their immediate family members—not from Valve itself. The source does not specify the contribution period beyond the cycle.
On January 20, 2021, the European Commission announced a €7.8 million fine against Valve and five game publishers for breaching EU antitrust rules through geo-blocking practices. The cited notice identifies the publishers as Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax.
The European Commission has fined Valve, owner of the online PC gaming platform "Steam", and the five publishers Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax € 7.8 million for breaching EU antitrust rules.
Valve’s Data Privacy Framework profile says it uses personal information internally to provide and improve services and respond to users. Contracted service providers may access data as needed; Valve says it will not share personally identifiable information with third parties for marketing without consent. The profile lists its privacy policy as effective February 14, 2024.
Valve's Privacy Policy is available from its website and is the best source of information regarding its privacy practices, but in general our customer's personal information is used internally by Valve to deliver, develop and improve products, content and services, to which users have subscribed, and to answer users' requests. Valve may allow third parties performing services under contract with Valve, such as order or payment processors or merchandise warehouse and fulfillment services, to access and use personally identifiable information, but only to the extent necessary to provide those services. Valve may also use personally identifiable information provided by users to send them information about Valve, including news about product updates, contests, events, and other promotional materials, but only if the users agree to receive such communications. Valve will not share any personally identifiable information with third parties for marketing purposes without the customer's consent. Valve does not share any personally identifiable information with other parties except as described in its Privacy Policy.
An archived OpenSecrets page lists $200,000 in lobbying for 2024 and $200,000 for 2023. It separately reports $525,973 in political contributions for the 2024 cycle, all from individuals and none from the organization itself; the listed contributions went to candidates, party committees and other groups.
On April 8, 2025, a California federal judge dismissed on technical grounds a consumer’s case seeking to vacate an arbitration award in Valve’s favor. The consumer alleged the arbitrator outsourced his decision-making role to artificial intelligence; the dismissal did not resolve that allegation on its merits.
A California federal judge on Tuesday dismissed on technical grounds a closely watched case in which a consumer sought to vacate an arbitral award favoring Valve Corp., the company behind the PC game marketplace Steam, over the arbitrator's "outsourcing" of his adjudicative role to artificial intelligence.