this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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PC Master Race

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[–] GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

Sad that Valve is participating in this shit.

Valve started this shit.

Valve is and always has been a scumbag company.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

Goddammit you are right, this is what I got from a Google search:

Loot Boxes (2004/2010): While randomized items originated in earlier Eastern games, Valve introduced loot crates (crates and keys) to the Western market in Team Fortress 2 (2010)

I checked to verify the information, as it was part of an AI response. And it is true.
But at least it was a free to play game. Later other companies also had it in games that were charged full price for.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Rocket League went from crates to blueprints when the crates became illegal in games in the EU.

I stopped buying shit immediately. I went from shelling out ~$50/month (I had to set a limit on my create opening spending), to $0/month. Because now, the shit I would consider spending a create key on costs more than what I paid for the game*, for a single little cosmetic item. Their prices are insane. So now they get nothing from me, and have done since.

(*) I played since before it went F2P.

It's definitely better than crates, because that was probably thousands of dollars I spent on basically nothing, but their prices are way too high now. They missed the mark.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Good thing you stopped wasting money on that shit. 👍

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Yeah dude. Better to put that money on new games instead! 😅

[–] commander@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Fifa Ultimate Team which eventually made its way into Madden and then 2K with NBA

[–] brian@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I don't mean anything by this question, but do you see any casino as a scumbag company too? or is there a difference in how valve is operating that puts them in that category?

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

Not the person you asked but I definitely see all casinos as scumbags, holy shit yes. Very exploitative business, definitely. Preying on weakness.

[–] commander@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Fifa ultimate team for video games pre-dates Valve doing crates in TF2

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago

Weird, I was told that Mass Effect 3 started loot boxes.

The other person who replied to you shows that loot boxes predated Mass Effect 3, which came out in 2012. (Fun fact: the Legendary Edition removes all that crap.)