Valve modifies Loot Boxes for Dutch players

Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2025 (25-26 March)

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After the Netherlands Gaming Authority asked game creators to comply with the Dutch laws when making loot boxes, Valve has done just the same. The buyers now have preview of what exactly they get when they are purchasing Valve Loot Boxes

Valve’s action came shortly after the Netherlands Gaming Authority threatened to follow suit and forbidden the Dutch players to use the steam marketplace so they can avoid the gambling legal restrictions. The Gaming Authority highlighted the implications and the risks of creating some level of addiction by allowing the players to create profit from the crates loot by selling the items in a marketplace.

In order to get completely legal with their CS:GO and Dota 2 loot boxes, Valve are now allowing Dutch players to preview the drop before actually purchasing it. According to the Reddit user Larhf, who provided a screenshot, he was able to see what cosmetic item he will get by purchasing a TI8 Collector’s Cache box.

According to the same user, buying multiple treasures at once is not possible for the players with the residence set to the Netherlands; however, after opening a box, the next highlighted item is the one that will drop with a new purchase.

The new change was not listed in any Valve patch logs and it is unknown whether this is just a temporary action until they find a better way to comply with the Dutch laws. With Artifact, which is a trading card game expected to be released by the end of the year, the new regulation might affect Valve harder than anticipated. The Steam market should have been the absolute dream platform for their new game, so it remains to be seen what solution Valve will find for lifting the ban of using it in certain countries.

 

Source: vpesports.com


Source: European Gaming Industry News

After starting out as an affiliate in 2009 and developing some recognized review portals, I have moved deeper into journalism and media. My experience has lead me to move into the B2B sector and write about compliance updates and report around the happenings of the online and land based gaming sector.