Valve has the ability to trade with items from lootboxes that are obtained in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, disabled for Dutch Steam users. The publisher does this because the Dutch Game Authority has threatened to prosecute.
At the start of the software, Steam users will see a message in which Valve claims to have received two letters from the Dutch Gaming Authority in May.
According to the explanation given by the Dutch Gaming Authority, the slot boxes are illegal because players can trade their contents. Valve claims to have hired Dutch lawyers and to have looked at the investigation published by the Gaming Authority in April. Valve does not agree with the legal conclusion of the authority and says that it does not understand it either, but has nevertheless eliminated the trade in lootboxes for Dutch customers.
By deactivating trading with the items from the Loot Boxes, Valve complies with the desired adjustments by the Dutch Gaming Authority. The publisher of CS:GO and Dota 2 sees it as a temporary solution and claims to have implemented the trade ban for Dutch citizens only because the authority demanded an adjustment before 20 June and threatened prosecution. Valve hopes to be able to continue its dialogue with the Gaming Authority in order to reach a different solution in the end.
In April, the Dutch Gaming Authority published its investigation into lootboxes in games. At the time, the authority said that four of the ten games examined were using illegal slot boxes. According to the authority, lottery boxes are illegal in the Netherlands if it is possible to deal with their contents. From now on, the Gaming Authority will check whether publishers have made the desired changes.
