> where generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive.

Which honestly is also a grift to get kids to spend their parents cash on objects that in reality have no real value. The loop hole is the trading aspect and the fact that you aren't really gambling but simply buying a pack of cards. It just so happens that some packs may contain "valuable" collector cards. That is by design to create artificial scarcity and stir FOMO in the collectors who rush out and spend big money trying to find the rare cards.

Another POV is, despite all the revenue it generates, have loot boxes led to studios financing new projects? No. I don't think game financing has ever been as creatively risk averse as it is now. So people in the industry should oppose it even if it makes lots of money.

> In addition, although this case is about mystery boxes, we feel the need to address comments made by the NYAG about games, real world violence, and children. Those extraneous comments are a distraction and a mischaracterization we’ve all heard before. Numerous studies throughout the years have concluded there is no link between media (movies, TV, books, comics, music, and games) and real world violence. Indeed, many studies highlight the beneficial impact of games to users.

This is apparently in reference to this NYAG press release: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-...

> In addition, although this case is about illegal gambling, it is important to note that Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed.

Shameful!