Counter-Strike is one of the most played games on Steam, but besides the actual shooter gameplay, many players are particularly busy opening cases, a type of loot box. An Austrian court has now decided that Valve must refund a player his money.
What was the trial about? In a trial conducted in Austria, it was about loot boxes offered in the CS:GO successor Counter-Strike 2. In this tactical shooter, cases can be opened, in which skins for the weapons in the game can be found.
Depending on rarity and condition, the skins can bring in quite a lot of money on the Steam marketplace or with third parties. Players repeatedly spend large sums to maybe hit the jackpot in the next case.
A court in Austria has now found that the cases are considered illegal gambling and sentenced Valve to refund a player a total of 14,096.58 euros that he spent on loot boxes (via Games Wirtschaft).
Counter-Strike 2 replaced CS:GO on September 27, 2023, but nothing changed regarding the loot boxes.
The trial financier believes the fight against loot boxes is won
What significance does the ruling have? The court’s decision is interesting because, for the first time in the German-speaking region, a ruling has been made regarding loot boxes in Counter-Strike, as trial financier Richard Eibl explains (via Presseportal).
Eibl is the managing director of Padronus, a process financing company that conducted the trial as part of a collective procedure in cooperation with a law firm.
Although the ruling is not yet final, it could have far-reaching consequences. Since Valve does not have a gambling license – if the purchase of cases with random content for real money is now considered gambling, the company behind Steam could face a loss of several million euros in revenue annually, estimates Eibl.
The trial financier is certain: “The legal battle over loot boxes is over and won. The ruling is the end for loot boxes in Austria.” He does not expect Valve to appeal and believes the company’s chances would not look better in the second instance either.
Padronus had already succeeded in spring with a law firm against Sony and EA in a similar legal question, back then about loot boxes in FIFA. MeinMMO spoke with lawyer Christian Solmecke about the ruling.
“The biggest challenge is often making the logic of video games understandable to judges”
What makes such trials difficult? As Eibl explains, “the biggest challenge” is often making the judges understand “the logic of video games along with their numerous Anglicisms”. The judges themselves have often never seen a video game or even played one, says the trial financier.
In this case, however, they were lucky that the judge had personal experiences with Counter-Strike, allowing him to immediately grasp the situation.
In addition to Austria, another of our neighboring countries has taken up the fight against loot boxes: One of Germany’s neighboring countries is seeking to ban loot boxes: These games could be affected
