Valve is undoubtedly one of the most powerful forces in the gaming world, having not only had a massive impact on the FPS scene through games like Half-Life 2 and Portalbut also a revolution in PC gaming via Steam. But while public opinion of Valve is generally more positive than other major gaming corporations, it hasn't been without its problems.
Some of these issues are cropping up in 2026 as several lawsuits targeting the company have surfaced in the past few weeks. Most notable are two high-profile suits against Valve over the use of microtransactions prevalent in games. Counter-Strike: Global Operations, Counter-Strike 2, Team Strength 2and Dota 2. Another lawsuit was also recently filed against Valve, albeit on completely different grounds. Here's what we know about these cases so far.
Steam is under investigation by the FBI
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is opening an investigation into several games that have been confirmed to contain malware on Steam.
Valve is being sued by the state of New York
On February 25, 2026, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a complaint accusing Valve of violating state gambling laws by using loot boxes. James claims that these loot boxes are a “typical gamble” as players must spend real money to open them with the hope of receiving rare rewards. Naturally, Valve does not hold any licenses to operate gambling in New York.
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The state further argues that these dangers are exacerbated by the lack of age verification, which allows underage users to participate in the loot box system. If found liable, Valve could face up to billions of dollars in fines, in addition to having to pay restitution to players.
For a while, it seemed that Valve would not comment on this case, as it is generally tight-lipped about such matters. However, on March 11, the company issued a substantive response to the New York Attorney General's Office via Steam, disputing its claims and defending its loot box systems. The statement contains a number of rebuttals to specific points raised by the New York complaint, although the following passage contains the company's most salient point:
“…these types of boxes in our games are widely used not only in video games, but also in the physical world, where generations have grown up opening packs of baseball cards and blind boxes and bags and then trading and selling the items they receive. On the physical side, baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu are popular products used this way.”
There is a class action lawsuit against Valve in the US
On March 9, less than two weeks after New York filed its complaint, Valve was sued by law firm Hagens Berman on behalf of “consumers nationwide.” The class action lawsuit alleges that Valve's lootbox system “was carefully designed to extract money from consumers, including children, using deceptive casino-style psychological tactics.” The suit is essentially the same as in New York: loot boxes are the functional equivalent of slot machine-style gambling.
Hagens Berman claims that Valve profited greatly from this loot box system and is seeking damages in the form of compensation for players who spent money on it. Additionally, the lawsuit hopes to completely dismantle Valve's lootbox practices and “implement meaningful age verification and consumer protections.”
The Performing Right Society is taking Valve to court
The third major lawsuit against Valve to emerge in recent weeks wasn't based on loot boxes and gambling, but rather music distribution rights. The plaintiff in this case is the Performing Right Society, a British copyright collective, which claims that Valve did not obtain the necessary license to distribute its members' music online. This applies to soundtracks sold on Steam, but also to the games themselves. Titles like Forza Horizon and FIFA to contain music owned by PRS members, and while they received the proper licenses, Valve themselves did not. And since Valve distributes these games, it should have done so, according to PRS.
PRS claims that it has attempted to negotiate these matters “for many years without proper involvement from Valve” and that “the Litigation will continue unless Valve Corporation positively engages in discussions and obtains the necessary license to cover the use of the PRS repertoire, both retroactively and forward.” PRS also notes that other storefronts, including the Microsoft Store, use something called the “General Entertainment Online License” for this purpose.
The Performing Right Society has been known for its controversy in the past, having been involved in a number of controversial court cases in the UK. For example, in 2009 the collective took legal action against a Scottish car dealership because its employees were listening to the radio without obtaining a licence. In the same year, she also tried to sue a retail worker for singing licensed songs herself without a live performance license, although PRS withdrew the case and issued a public apology to the 56-year-old worker.
