DayZ creator Dean Hall has spoken out strongly against the gambling mechanics on the Steam marketplace for Counter-Strike. He thinks we players are letting Valve get away with far too much.
Dean Hall is not a man who minces his words. The creator of the survival hit DayZ and current head of New Zealand studio Rocketwerkz is known in the industry for his clear opinions. In an interview with Eurogamer, the developer recently addressed the topic of loot boxes and gambling, taking a strong stance against industry giant Valve.
Hall’s accusation: While publishers such as EA have been publicly pilloried for their loot boxes (keyword: Battlefront 2), Valve gets away scot-free with its systems in Counter-Strike. He believes that the community, but also the gaming press, are displaying a kind of double standard here, with Valve often being perceived as the “good guy” while other publishers are criticized for similar, sometimes less aggressive systems.
Disgusting
mechanics
In the interview, Hall criticizes Valve for being treated far too leniently for its monetization methods. The New Zealander said, “It’s something that Valve doesn’t get nearly enough criticism for, in my opinion […]”.
However, Hall does not stop at friendly criticism. He goes even further in the interview and makes his disgust for this type of monetization clear: I am frankly disgusted by gambling mechanics in video games – they have absolutely no place there
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His main argument relates to the linking of gambling mechanics with the real-money marketplace in Counter-Strike, which makes the situation there much more problematic than in games where purchases are purely cosmetic (such as Fortnite).
How gambling works at Valve
But what exactly does Hall mean? After all, the skins in CS are purely cosmetic and do not provide any advantage in the game. The Counter-Strike system is based on weapon crates that players receive randomly in the game. However, to open these crates, you have to buy a key for real money (approx. $2.50).
The contents of the case are weapon skins with varying degrees of rarity. The key point, however, is that these skins have real monetary value on the Steam Marketplace and can be traded. While many skins are only worth a few cents, extremely rare knives or gloves can change hands for thousands of euros.
It is precisely this combination of gambling (boxes with random contents) and a cash value (via the Steam Marketplace) that makes the system a real gamble for critics like Hall and also for many regulatory authorities.
The public outcry over the (later removed) loot boxes in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 led to a rethink in the industry at the time. In several countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, paid loot boxes, where the contents are not known in advance, came under the scrutiny of regulatory authorities as illegal gambling.
Many developers subsequently switched to battle passes or the direct sale of cosmetics. Valve, on the other hand, has largely been able to maintain its system over the years, often arguing that it is only cosmetics. Dean Hall obviously sees things differently – and he is unlikely to be alone in this opinion.
