Official statement from Valve.
We shared with the NYAG that these types of boxes in our games are widely used, not just in video games but in the tangible world as well, where generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive.
You’re right! We should stop that too!
Yeah, true. Both of those were arguments more against lootboxes in general than specifically how valve has done it, I suppose. Valve’s implementation is certainly a lot less predatory than EA or any mobile game lol