Steam's Multi-Billion Dollar Gambling Problem

[@randomsleepyness]

"Counter-strike skins black market" will never not be hilariously absurd. How far we've come.

[@CP-jk3tc]

For me cosmetic is okay (although I find a bunch of them out of place and unappealing) However, what I detest the most is this generation's game casters where a bunch of grown-ups crying, screaming and acting out unnecessarily like pre-teen high on substances.

[@Meta_data]

The "black market" is prevalent in any large online game. Even Roblox has a black market where people will spend up to tens of thousands of dollars for items.

[@putnamehereholdmadoodle]

Its oneday will be the global currency of the world. Buying houses with dlores and instead of the lotery we have cases.

[@itsicearmour]

It isn't anything THAT crazy. We had a few weed dealers at my high school who took cash money or Runescape gold/PaySafeCards back in 2008-2012.

[@randomsleepyness]

@@itsicearmour that is beautiful

[@stuntzii]

so glad im addicted 2 drugs not gambling

[@jonhart2822]

Know what you mean.

[@ffoster4360]

Blud think drug is cool

[@hillbillyhistory4227]

Weed is way cheaper than gambling 😂

[@xNathan2439x]

@@ffoster4360 that's not what he said

[@user-rz8qr5hw6s]

Hahaha hahaha me too!

[@asterionarts7490]

I really appreciate the sound mixing - namely that low volume on those screeching youtuber clips. It seems like little thing, but it makes the video so much more enjoyable. :D

[@Toby_Kat]

Exactly! A lot of the channels I’ve been discovering lately seem to be completely unaware of how distracting (even painful) their sibilance gets. This feels delightfully balanced, allowing me to actually focus!

[@WickedWildNWise]

I am now just refusin to watch even streamers I like...if they cant be arsed to fix sound

[@trenton8211]

Agreed

[@paganarh]

Been working in gambling industry for few decades and when lootboxes started to appear I immediately recognized for what they are, casino games. Have been regularily talking with my kids, who are also avid gamers like me, about how this system works and how it is set up. Nothing cures you of gambling quicker than working in that industry....

[@Tom_Bee_]

I feel much the same way about casino managers that I do about heroin and crack dealers. Predatory lifestyle. No notes.

[@AMabud-lv7hy]

what did u see in that industry?

[@migaelz]

The only thing I'm happy about, is that more and more countries are straight-up making all of that illegal. I'm from the netherlands, and I'm not even able to participate in innocent twitch polls because of the ability to gamble your fake twitch-points, which can technically be earned extra fast through subbing and gifting subs. Lootboxes can't be purchased, only earned. It's also the reason why many gamepasses don't include items that are random, as that'd be considered as gambling. Which means you cannot sell your gamepass in Europe. This anti-gambling law in the netherlands is currently being discussed to extend across all of europe. I just really hope it will also extend to the US.

[@3a3ylon81]

I never worked for any gambling corp, yet never played or got addicted to what is to me, a stupid hobby in the common sense that: 1) casino always win 2) you can become addicted and it can ruin your life.. and I do believe you when you say that seeing people everyday losing their wages, their mind, families and freinds, basicaly all they got is a great vaccine against gambling. Nobody ever told me anything, but you know, we're all not born equal (fact-not sorry), so know yourself, know your limits (addiction is a known disease), learn to recognize what is abusive to you and don't listen to mermaids calls.. The falling of IQ era we're going through wil not put an end to that evil abuse of human beings by other human beings that is gambling, sadly :/ Thanks for the wake up call video, never too late, never too many, and there aren't that many, so good job! To all the addicted gamblers, it's never too late to stop and if it's what you want we believe in you! Peace

[@ThisUsernameSystemF-ckingSucks]

@@AMabud-lv7hy I imagine people that lost more than everything they had.

[@steambot3000]

Team Fortress 2 was actually the testing subject for crates/Cases before Cs go!

[@metakn1ght]

umm.. excuse me? ham and cheese.

[@Dynamitepie1]

I'm actually surprised they didn't go into that a bit, although it may be because I don't think the TF2 economy had any "infamous" moments like CSGO did. At least before CSGO came along.

[@CorneliusTalmadge]

TF2 keys were the main currency of choice for black market trades at one time, especially when there were no regional restrictions on game gift trading.

[@ethhics]

@@Dynamitepie1 Except that glitch in summer 2019 where certain crates had a 100% chance to spawn a very rare item (Unusual hat), making the tf2 market crash in the process lol

[@lonjawnson]

Crazy that there hasn't been a lot of people to talk about this. TF2 literally was Ground 1 for microtransactions. Mobile games started adapting, DLC started dropping, etc. Things didn't start accelerating until CS:GO, of course. But Fortnite revolutionized this concept by creating the, "Battle Pass" business model and then combined it with the subscription business model. Crazy how much deeper this goes.

[@oxylepy2]

I love that the US used to flip out and start throwing laws out there, eg pinball machines. But meanwhile we have generated an entire gaming system of addiction and drawing money out of people, just totally silent.

[@jamesbailey6257]

it's because most politiams know absolutely nothing about video games, I'd be willing to bet a solid amount of them still believe they're all 16 bit, they don't even know this stuff exist, if they do they don't think anyone more than like a couple thousand people use it anyway. This is just another consequences of not having age limits on politicians, if most of the people in charge weren't over 60 this would not be a problem

[@greenerell484]

yep bit strange

[@domm6812]

It's not just politicians lack of knowledge. A lot of them willingly turn a blind eye, because they don't want to upset corporations. We see this everywhere in governance. The U.S gov isn't enforcing the existing antitrust (ant monopoly) laws anymore, despite corporate market rigging being the worst it's been in many decades.

[@zacharykelly7434]

Are you at all familiar with lottery scratchers?

[@centerfield6339]

The conservatives used to be in charge, and were overly cautious with new things. Now the progressives are, and they think all change from the past is good.

[@sskuk1095]

So happy that my country (Austria) is finally taking action in prohibiting lootboxes!

[@BobbyLightDoYouRight]

Love Red Bull. Thanks 😊

[@ohoto3896]

excellent news

[@MosheGames]

The country that has slots in every bar will be our role model

[@TheThunderKeki]

so never move to Austria 👍

[@aninverse]

I met a pachinko addict when living in Japan back in 2008 who had NOTHING else in his life. Sleep and pachinko. He was something like 50k in debt and younger than me. Gachapon are also pure evil with the same kind of lame to cool toy ratio that drives little kids into emotional outrage when they don't get the one they can clearly see right there through the perspex. This was such a classic Kira vid with the kind of inviting depth that even people with pre-existing knowledge can still be surprised. Bless you brother for doing what you do. Fuck gachapon, fuck loot boxes, and fuck all twats responsible for shoving gambling down kids necks.

[@MastaHosen]

Adults exploiting children.

[@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943]

Wonder where the pachinko addict is now?

[@aninverse]

@@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943 be surprised if he survived. Looked strung out all the time as that shit took up all his free waking hours.

[@superspies32]

And to make people become more addict, many MMORPG and card games turned to make very broken, OP meta or characters or items and then sold their skins or rare cards so players with a full, traditions items has no way to counter against those. The best example I can found is Yugioh TCG. When first introduced Link Summon, they make Link cards has the most broken cards like Firewall Dragon (basically if you let him play first, you cannot even reached to draw phase anymore), Accesscode Talker (up to now still one of the asshole cards with atk can reached to 10k and negation effects). Then they saw its not enough they applied Master Rule 4 to force every special summons to need Link cards pointed to. So if you are using Fusion, Synchro, XYZ or Pendulum only you cannot even summon any of them if you did not perform Link Summon first. And to get those Link cards you need to grind, not one, not two cards but entire package to setup a new summon engine. Then after a while they changed the rule again on Master Rule 5 to lift the special summon restrict to Pendulum only and release Kashanitra, the number 1 asshole of Yugioh TCG.

[@perfectallycromulent]

@@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943 he's in the pachinko parlor, like always

[@joeledwards6587]

back in my day, if you wanted to change your in-game skins you'd have to replace the actual game files with something you downloaded from the internet (for free) or designed yourself if you were so inclined. I had thousands of CS1.6 skin files to play with and they cost me nothing

[@Lenariet]

Ahhh, nude patches. Good times.

[@Chasgasm]

The good ol' days of browsing FPSBanana for cool skins

[@skeletonbuyingpealts7134]

And occasionally make a monstrosity

[@jsonstache]

Yeah, lets not forget that developers are actively intentionally making games worse in order to make more money...

[@Valentyn90A]

@@jsonstache :(

[@natevanek2785]

I have to say that Kira's long-form videos like this one are some of the most compelling videos on KZbin. Bravo, sir.

[@nanomachines2954]

It's Insane how people were going nuts over Oblivion's $5 horse armor not long ago but today they're totally fine with spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get a "sticker" or a virtual knife.

[@Shawnchapp]

no those of us that went nuts about the $5 horse armor warned all you people that said "its only horse armor its not that bad" that it was only the start and it will get worse... maybe you all should've listened to us back then..

[@ryandavis2464]

I fondly remember buying Day 1 DLC for Dead Space 2 and shortly after thinking 'Uh oh'

[@XBluDiamondX]

I hate this argument. The people who complained about horse armor aren't the same people who participated in CS GO's gambling nonsense.

[@TheRealCatof]

One is a cosmetic item in a single player game, the others are items in a multiplayer game that everyone can see, and also holds real world value because it can be resold. Counterstrike is the only game where you can literally make money by investing in skins.

[@Shawnchapp]

@@TheRealCatof both are cosmetics... an no CS is the only game this happens in. its just one of the biggest. SP or MP doesn't matter skins/cosmetics shouldn't be paid microtrancation.. they should be part of the game period especially at the asking price of most game nowadays.

[@baconugenx]

"lets go back a bit" proceeds to take us back to the beginning of time and walk us through four epochs before getting to steam.

[@lasennui]

"Let's go back to the beginning. And by that, I mean all the way back" . Did he say "a bit"?

[@rekamud6635]

You didnt watch the putin interview & get the joke?

[@le9038]

Putin KiraTV 🤝 "lets go back a bit"

[@distinguishedallureproduct879]

Let's go back a bit.....The year is 1992, Sonic and Mario battle for console supremacy as a deadly game emerges and scares mother's and elder politics everywhere....."

[@AudioReplica2023]

Felt like an episode of Machinima - All your history belongs to us 🤣

[@sock2828]

Back when valve first released loot crates my friend and I were really into them. Then after a few weeks and too much money spent I remember suddenly realizing and saying aloud "you know, this is just gambling" and he was like "wait, you're right" and we stopped buying them since both of us are prone to gambling addiction

[@Eshkebuk]

Fantastic video Kira, this is actually something my son (10)and I talked about last week with Roblox.

[@Buttersaemmel]

i wish more parents would keep an eye out for what theire kids are playing and what they're doing online. props, keep it up!

[@warlordbarbell]

God I hate Roblox. It’s all pay to win and there’s no restrictions on how much people can charge for power ups or items. At least make it to where you have to enter a code or pin for every purchase that way my son can’t blow $100 in one go on outfits or skins for his character lol. He only gets $5 at a time now because of that.

[@Eshkebuk]

@warlordbarbell What helped with me is show him how much the roblox converted to in real $ then showing him what he could buy then just really hammering it home that at anytime that game could be gone along with everything you put into it. He bought spins for a chance to win something and ended up losing bad, which upset him, but it was a good lesson.

[@Eshkebuk]

@@Buttersaemmel thanks!

[@oyayemayafaro7307]

You're an awesome parent!

[@antlerman7644]

Cheers for putting this message out there, vunerable people should be protected, not financially exploited.

[@l0rdfr3nchy7]

*vulnerable* as in * i have so much money i dont know what to do with it *

[@jb5631]

​@@l0rdfr3nchy7exactly! Well said!

[@PeterPanbe]

Proud to live in Belgium which is banning these practices, by coincidence the home of Larian studios.

[@triadwarfare]

I remember that in Apex Legends, you'd get far better value switching to Belgium than trying your chance at buying loot ticks until recently. They somehow patched the Belgium exploit by making the value proposition worse by making things more expensive there.

[@19ate4]

America used to have morals

[@Jartran72]

@19ate4 When was that? Slavery times? Or the times where organised crime was glorified during Capone? Or Prohibition? There was never a moral time, just in modern times we like to think back and glorify the past. Truth is today is a lot better than back then, but who wants to look at positives when you can be negative all the time.

[@khrainos3139]

not proud here, I'd rather choose to not participate the nbe forced

[@jacobhare3093]

@@19ate4 No, no it didn't. But to be fair no one has prefect morals

[@Shamino1]

I'm a huge fan of how Gabe Newell became a New Zealand citizen, bought a billion dollar private complex on the island, and locked himself away. Totally not a super-villain move to do.

[@StallionStudios1234]

Indeed

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

"private complex" = "evildoing lair"

[@Salen0243]

@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 👌

[@user-un3nm9pc4b]

ok maybe im a bit too young but who is gabe newell? im guessing he is the guy who owns steam? ive never used steam so i have no knowledge of it

[@Salen0243]

@@user-un3nm9pc4b He is the founder of steam and also the founder of Valve, the studio behind several popular video games like counter strike, TF2.................

[@N0N0111]

Gambling for kids was always a billion dollar scheme. Look what Roblox did, they saw the writing on the wall too.

[@Ihrlutschtdochalle]

They saw what ? EA Sports have done this since FIFA 11 or 12 😅

[@austin_the_brimstone]

I was 14 when I got into TF2 and ADDICTED to these crates. I was lucky enough to unbox an unusual and figure "well that'll never happen again" so I finally stopped. And then the game went pretty downhill after that.

[@frankiepine7551]

Riiiiiight

[@Shawnchapp]

tf2 went downhil the moment they made free to play, i stil won't forgive them for that i pay $20 for that game all i got was stupid "pin" for being an actual buyer and whats worst you can't even trade the pen for 3 cents like every other item

[@samiulalim7125]

well, i only ever opened one case in csgo, ever. and my first drop was a stattrak m9 bayonet tiger tooth mw. never opened another case. ever

[@ThisUsernameSystemF-ckingSucks]

@@Shawnchapp why would you want to sell the pin? Makes zero sense.

[@Shawnchapp]

@@ThisUsernameSystemF-ckingSucks why would i want it? at least i could make 4 cents back out of the $20 i paid for that game

[@blobidk]

I was 15 when i got hooked on gambling with csgo skins. I spent hundreds of dollars on steam cards for keys and eventually skins. Found out about CSGO Jackpot and started gambling. It was an absolute thrill. My inventory was worth close to $30k at one point before I gambled nearly all of it away. I ended up selling my last couple skins including my minimal wear Dragon Lore and leaving the game entirely. I did come out of it slightly positive but after the insane highs and the depressing lows, it was far too emotionally taxing. I will never buy skins again and won't gamble anything I don't mind losing.

[@oddunb6190]

Mate, you shouldn’t ever gamble again never mind if you don’t mind losing or not. You’re an addict so you’ve lost your right. Can’t be trusted.

[@CloudCoderChap]

@@oddunb6190Facts! As an addict myself, you can’t dip a toe again.

[@pixeljunk3756]

@@oddunb6190nah bro chill sounds to me like he learned some good lessons and got out early. he has every right to do what ever the fuck he wants if he want to fuck his life up he can do it anytime a thousand different ways

[@Vindsvelle]

@@pixeljunk3756 Hopefully none of your family or close friends are addicts, because there's a word for your dismissive attitude: *Enabling.*

[@Nyllsor]

I never understood the thing with gambling skins. Has any player you know acually cashed out? I doubt 30k worth of skins are acually worth 30k. Is it some thing with showing off, or just addiction to gambling? I played CS for 20years and it has always been for the thrill of winning a match. I'm curious to why that is not enough.

[@parafitality2730]

Fun fact, the company that creates pachinko machines for Japan (Aristocrat Leisure Limited) also makes the worst games inside casinos and pubs, slot machines.

[@DavidKen878]

Slots are the worse games?

[@gadblatz4841]

Huh. I always thought it was, get crates, sell them for 60 cents, walk away.

[@Buttersaemmel]

i now hold on to them, just in case. the first crates that were published are at around 70$ now, so i could've bought some games if i kept them. if they don't go up tho i can still sell them for 60 cents. ooooor...open them and turn that 60 cents into 3...from which i get to keep 1.

[@ThisUsernameSystemF-ckingSucks]

I have a couple 10 dollar crates which is great. I made the money back for what I spent on the game way back. (I shouldn't have bought it tbf I never play it)

[@Jell0zz]

Yup, I bought many many many games with my crate sales. When I realized you buy a key and case for ca. €2,00 and get a >€0,20 skin which you sell and get 0,15€ back from, I decided I'd rather speculatively hold onto the cases I get for free and sell when prices are high.

[@MrMikidude]

Did not expect maplestory to show up, great video as always!

[@ChicaLocaGB]

You are brilliant at doing these investigative docs, a really worthwhile subject for exploration

[@ekki1993]

I think there's a broader issue behind this. Not calling out these "benign" abuses "because it's fun" means that, as soon as more abusive companies start doing it, every defender of the company can reasonably go "but this company you like does it too". People are bad at understanding why they like or dislike the things they do, so this often leads to dumb discussions trying to draw a line in the sand where what, for example, Steam does is permissible and what Kick does isn't, even though the correct thing to do would be realising that both are in the wrong. The worst part isn't one benign offender going scott free. The worst part is people reaching the conclusion that "bad thing is only bad when done wrong", then opening the door to it being abused on an industry-wide scale. You know, horse armor in Oblivion, slippery slope, Fallout 76. Properly understanding why something is bad is crucial to not letting it spread and repeat, and it's not as easy as taking the problem at face value. It's not just a greedy company or one particular greedy CEO. It's a complex system of incentives that leads to money being picked whenever a choice has to be made between profits and caring about people.

[@juliankohler5086]

Aw man... I like Valve so much. But I have to watch, can't bury my head in the sand.

[@livwake]

You can appreciate their art without liking the corporate suits

[@neonoir__]

we need ohnepixel to react to this. I wanna see the coping on how this is "not gambling"

[@V-O-V]

hes very upfront cases are gambling, have you ever watched him?

[@Tinskap]

Calling a hobby gambling is crazy

[@sulphurous2656]

He already watched the crowbcat video, did he not?

[@johnscott5169]

​@@Tinskapwell its gambling as a hobby

[@doliniplanini2260]

shilling is a hobby for ohne

[@Dreamora-lorekeeper]

Gacha sounds like such a harmless word. When I first started playing Genshin Impact, I was entirely unaware what a gacha game was. I started playing, and I kept playing, and I was encouraged by a lot of people to spend money to get the characters I wanted. I've stopped playing now because I kept getting so depressed when I didn't get those characters, I got so anxious, so frustrated, so unhappy that I didn't even like Genshin anymore I just wanted to be able to get those characters. Sadly, I spent about $500 in all on Genshin, and I regret it every time I think of the game. I had no idea it was basically gambling until I was already down in that hole, and I was only sixteen years old. I wish gacha wasn't advertised as something fun and quirky instead of the real risk it is to kids.

[@user-ul4xu5xy9w]

As a father of 3, 2 boys 24 and 8 and a girl of 16 I have lived the evolution described here - from buying Football Cards and sticker albums to a Monsters Inc sticker album and 99p for single songs to nowadays with Roblux and V-Bucks. We have come to a place where it’s normal to spend real money for things of no physical or practical value, flawed reality

[@electrified1014]

Thank you for finally covering this!! This is a huge problem that so many people aren’t aware of and I think it’s super important, love the vid!

[@kurrwa]

People are sheeeoed and getting milked. The problem is the generation that grew up on phones because they don’t know other life besides their phones

[@NORBZMUSIC]

Just want to drop some respect on your work ethic and youtube hustle/edits/consistency, salute.

[@ShouVertica]

Personally I always found it funny that gacha rates on CSGO were low but people paid so much for (usually) a very benign looking skin. Reminds me a lot of crypto. In other games low rates = great prize but CSGO somehow cultivated people getting excited about weapon skins that just kinda look "meh".

[@justdakotamusic]

Everyone's tastes are different. I like my stat track AK

[@XanGious]

I believe a major reason CSGO skin's are valued so high is because they can be sold. When somethingcan be resale the rarity itself affects the value greatly.

[@V-O-V]

@@XanGious yes unlike NFTs skins being used in game is what gives them their value, they are not simply profile pictures

[@shawnmyers6571]

​​@V-O-V so what your telling me, is that I need to make a nft AK skin

[@hanselthecaretaker]

Amazing in an age when AAA pubs are routinely called out vehemently on their MTX bs that Steam has gotten away with the same or worse without anyone blinking an eye.

[@dylandoherty3782]

One exception to not seeing gambling on a regular basis is Las Vegas. I grew up there and there are slot machines in every grocery store and gas station.

[@carlospinheirotorres9499]

Thank you for shinning a light on this, hadn't a clue how deep this cavity had gone so far... and it's mad the state of affairs 😢

[@StallionStudios1234]

Same. I used to play the hell out of CS but that was before this whole fiasco. Didn't even know about this.

[@mtmadigan82]

Guy with a gambling problem can ruin his life lightspeed faster than drugs

[@owenw7121]

And often its both at the same time

[@sulphurous2656]

It's like comparing piss to shit.

[@joshrodgers9366]

If it's like comparing shit to piss tbh I'd rather be pissed on than shit on so I'll take drug addiction over gambling addiction any day 🤣🤣🤣 luckily I have neither

[@bullettime1116]

Mfers with a drug addiction trying to make their addiction seem like a lesser evil to gambling

[@TerrenceMcGinnis]

Depends on the drug really. If you get something laced with the right stuff, your life can be ruined near instantly as you'll be dead.

[@SuperTrb0]

Thank God I’m addicted to heroin and not gambling. Gambling addicts sicken me. Get some help.

[@Salen0243]

Blud think heroin is cool 🤣💀

[@Carlisthatdude]

Wrote a paper about this a couple years ago in law school. Lots of interesting cases that relate in some way to the loot box gambling issue.

[@everydaygym6342]

What a video. You deserve much more than you have. Good job not minimizing the societal effect this can have over time. I myself am a secondary victim of gambling addiction, and it led to a good portion of my childhood and young adult life being filled with turmoil and uncertainty. It truly is an exponential phenomenon that will have an impact on not only the individuals that get sucked into the vortex, but the generation that follows said individuals as well. Anyone who has been the child or loved one of someone who has struggled with gambling addiction can naturally perceive what I’m talking about. It is a much bigger picture than most realize.

[@KingUnKaged]

It does feel a tad dystopian the way that gambling has loudly infiltrated every modern form of recreation.

[@cs_mns]

many of my friends lost everything to gambling, its sad how common and life-destroying it is. I have the worst luck in the world, so i never gamble aside from the random case drop here and there.

[@PierreChe]

Your point at the end about the regularity and glorification of gambling in gaming is extremely powerful and well-presented. Someone plz clip it and send it to politicians! Well done for this amazing video!

[@JC-jz6rx]

it is crazy to me that this channel started with more MMO oriented content. What a pivot, been here since like 25k-50k. whatever you did seems to have worked. the content quality has been superb.

[@WikiED]

Steam created NFTs with the skins before ppl invented NFTs. Functionally Steam skins and marketplace works the way gaming companies wanted NFTs to works, Steam simply did not bother creating some weird concept around it and just put real world, local currencies.

[@maxstr]

Kinda. I believe the difference is you supposedly "own" an NFT, like it was a physical property. (I say supposedly because that's the theory, but in practice not so much). Steam items however, are always property of Valve. If Valve shuts down or if they are forced to stop the marketplace, you have no claim of ownership and you lose everything. They have zero value outside the Steam marketplace

[@jsrodman]

bad comparison. steam items work. NFTs don't work. The transaction cost is too high. transferability doesn't exist. Contracts are not transferrable. They don't work because they can't do what is promised in law or reality.

[@horizont6172]

Bro doesn't even know how NFTs works

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

@@maxstr That's kinda the exact description of an NFT aswell. The only thing you own with an NFT is the claim of ownership of the NFT, that's it. You don't own the image behind the NFT (neither the copyright nor any other right to it), you just can claim ownership of the NFT. And if the company that owns the servers where the images behind the NFTs are hosted decides to change these images, they can do that perfectly fine (this has actually happened, Goblintown changed all their NFT images to a middle finger to protest royalties). Or if the servers are shut down, so are the NFTs.

[@lycanwarrior2137]

@@horizont6172 Where do you think NFTs and "play-to-earn" games got their inspiration from? Steam's marketplace.

[@cooldudenibb]

Absolutely fascinating documentary you’ve created! You’ve brought up many great points; what stuck out to me most was the bit about how destructive this is on developing minds

[@Angina272]

you know this video is true when in our small country (~5mil ppl) there is like 7 major betting companies and hundreds of local ones, advertising/sponsoring absolutely everything and everywhere (radio/TV/billboards)

[@magicmulder]

5:40 This trading card stuff was rather popular in Europe (at least in Germany) with Panini cards, at least from the late 70s. The target audience was kids, and we'd buy a pack of 5 for a half a buck with a total of maybe 20 stickers. Usually soccer players (I remember starting this in 1978 during the world championship). Then we would trade in the school yard when we had stickers we didn't need but were missing others. I think this is still popular today.

[@joshuajohnson8991]

I'm so old I remember when Counter Strike Skins were free.

[@Nyllsor]

Fpsbannana had lots of em ;) Weaklings who spend real cash just to show off to others.

[@astralis3897]

Gaben's biggest trick was bundling a gambling biz with "PC gaming" to circumvent regulation.

[@zh84]

A streamer I used to watch (she's pretty much stopped now) was a PUBGM (Player Unknown's Battlegrounds Mobile) "VIP". They gave her free in-game currency and she used to use it to open loot boxes. Which didn't cost her anything, but if any of the audience wanted to do the same, it would have cost them real money...

[@N0N0111]

Cool to see one of the smoothest of them all streamers was included in this video. The ones that were gambling on live streames were knowingly boosting the algorithm, they have secured many bags that way! Even after the huge shutdown of websites, they were trying again streaming those CSGO skins gambling sites. I wonder if they will try a 3rd time.

[@ronjatter]

This is probably one of the best videos that you have ever made.

[@MSDGAMEZ]

I played Counter Strike for the first time a few months ago. I wish you could of seen my face when I paid for membership, then found out I had to pay again individually to open the crates I had gotten

[@mcghost2057]

Can we all just appreciate how good Kira documentaries are and how informative and well narrated this guy is. I absolutely love this channel and have done for a good year now Ty Kira for all your hard work and excellent content

[@kodac4256]

Where do kids get all their money? I didn't have any money as a kid. I'm still broke now I suppose.

[@V-O-V]

irresponsible parents which at its core is the actual issue that needs be addressed

[@crispchaos]

I can already picture Ohnepixel watching this while on a massive crate opening spree 😂

[@TheSkinDoctorCSGO]

Oh my days!

[@Vandreren83]

The biggest irony here is that the default skin looks better then virtually all of these abominations.

[@Michael-iw6gy]

it is a cautionary tale that i don't really like csgo, but one day i just randomly opened a case and got the emperor skin which led me to open more cases, thankfully i never spent more than i got from the skin because of the warnings some creators give.

[@QuestionMarking]

And this is exactly why I've never done anything more with counter strike except buy the base game...

[@jjoe7078]

its sad these videos are not more popular considering how widespread gambling is. its infected everything I loved about esports and sports. every 5 seconds on an nhl or nba game there's a "draftkings" or "prize picks" type ad

[@It_is_adrenalin]

why are you so underrated? This is a so cufking good video

[@maxstr]

Probably because he exposes so many scams and malicious people that have far more money than he does

[@Zach0000001]

"Most gambling is illegal in Japan" Actually, in 2014, they did a test run of making some Pachinko parlors and casinos legal. However, the Pachinko companies were faced by a few new laws, including the taxation of gambling wins, every machine must now pass inspection (which can take upwards to 8 months) as well as regulating their pseudo-RNG chips. This was one of the reasons why SNK Playmore decided to drop out of Pachinko.

[@KiraTV1]

I'm not getting the "actually" part in your comment. Nothing you said disproves or challenges what I said. Most gambling is still illegal in Japan as of 2024.

[@jabrowski_]

Great video Kira. As a member of the cs community, I enjoy opening the cases I've earned. I've learned from friends and fellow community members that putting your steam info on 3rd party sites is never a good idea let alone gamble the skins uve earned. It's very easy to get pressured because of how hard it is to get a good skin. Thanks for attempting to make this problem clear to everyone

[@LupinTelegar]

Another top notch doc looking into the issues in a multi-billion dollar industry that many in the world see as something for kids, or otherwise don't take seriously because it's "just a hobby". As an older player it's sad to see the state of things since when I was a child I wanted this industry to grow, I dreamt of being able to earn a living playing games i.e., e-sports, but I look upon it now with dismay as to where it has come. Thanks for your efforts Kira to bring a spotlight on these matters.

[@mickmoon6887]

Its crazy how many people still defend Valve and Steam even after this

[@Psiclone]

Thank you. We need more videos like this and more attention brought to these issues.

[@bruceyyyyy]

I've been gaming since the 80's and just never understood the obsession with in game skins. I even thought it sounded nice as some games are free (or nearly free) and you would only pay for cosmetic skins. Now that I see it. :/

[@rossharper1983]

As a Boomer who's been gaming since the late 80s, I've never understood why people buy skins, who tf cares what your character or gun looks like.

[@catfan913]

i dunno, but often times, when other people care about something you end up caring about it. community is an important part of gaming

[@statikriki]

the future is now old man!

[@TheHollowBlade]

@@catfan913this is very true. The entire fomo thing comes from the community deeming something “cool” so everyone jumps in asap, specially if its “limited” The issue imo now days is all nerdy hobbies are “community driven” and corporations are very much taking advantage of the fact with psychological manipulation to get us to spend more and more. The entire thing is nothing but pure greed. We could easily have 10$ skins.. but they make more with their tactics if skins are 30$ or more.. im talking shit like cod and apex,cgod forbid we look at this shit valve is doing with their skins and that stupid market.

[@ThatGuyNamedRick]

I'm an almost boomer who has owned and fired a plethora of real-life pewpews. There's just something about taking a second-hand popgun, taking a greasepen set and enameller and letting your imagination run wild for a bit before throwing it in the oven. It's art, good art, and it's getting harder to find. Remember: "This is my Rifle, there are many like it, but this one is *mine* ."

[@clvrswine]

@@TheHollowBlade$10, not 10$. $30, not 30$. 13 year old children know this.

[@NaZtRdAmUs]

Skins was the worst thing to happen to Counter Strike.

[@jjoe7078]

best and worst thing. its saved csgo from almost certain doom, and nearly single handedly made the game as popular as it is today. valve wouldnt have funded further updates, maps, etc if skins didnt make em billions. it also did ruin many peoples lives, especially families of teens who probably stole their credit card.

[@NaZtRdAmUs]

@@jjoe7078 at this point knowing what I do and seeing where Counter Strike is heading I'd rather that it died.

[@gabrielgabriel9779]

@@jjoe7078 Yea but not really.. The game is still full of hackers, weak mental health ppl with mic and now gambling. At least the gambling is not present on Valorant, but it also has the other two problem that make the game not really a nice experience.

[@V-O-V]

@@NaZtRdAmUs oh fuck off lmao, it went from almost dead to the premier FPS esport.

[@sulphurous2656]

As a former trader who has dealt with bling in the thousands (before eventually losing it to a paypal scam whilst half-awake one night) I can agree with this sentiment, due to the effects it has had on where the focus of the game is and how it has changed its art style. The whole thing just feels plainly artificial, no better than fiat currency. Especially since texture swaps were something (much like player models) we could just mod in for free in the past.

[@sno_au]

Outstanding reporting Kira, love your work over the years. Take care

[@djswixify]

The quality of this and other videos of yours is mind blowing. The research, understanding, storytelling, script, visualization. Amazing job!

[@psycake1310]

Nexon never quit with the microtransactions. They only grew bolder with their efforts over time. Gachapon and 90 day cash shop items (outfits and pets) were the beginning, and then it ballooned up when Potentials were added into the game. Gachapon elevated into Philosopher's Books, and cash items (the permanent variants) are randomized prizes through Surprise Style Boxes (SSBs). I would like to emphasize that the rates of gaining good Potentials on rolls were nefariously monitored, and certain metrics were implemented by the company to entice younger gamers to spend more money on Potential Cubes. For example: the odds of acquiring 21/23% Attack and 30%+ Boss Damage on your weapon is largely affected by how much money you've sunk into the game, how often you cube, and apparently the size of your friend's list (generation of FOMO to be expected). The other thing is that Nexon did NOT tell people about the gradual changes to these rates either, so if you wanted triple Boss Damage% lines to really beef up your character.. Well, you can't. They didn't mention this, and expected gamers to keep buying cubes who would keep trying to get 3 Boss Damage lines, because telling their player base this would risk them losing profits. When that news finally broke to the public, it turned off A LOT of MapleStory players.

[@mayconlcruz]

TBH, Nexon as whole needs their own essay, especially because they're the pioneer to all those predatory practices the gaming industry are engaging today.

[@psycake1310]

@@mayconlcruz Big agree.

[@Pie_Mastah]

Last I remembered, the most popular server in NA is reboot, and apart from pets it had zero micro transactions on gameplay. Still had the really egregious cosmetic gacha though.

[@psycake1310]

@@Pie_MastahYes. I am actually a Reboot gamer, myself. This DOES cut back on microtransactions (particularly in cubing), in which you are correct. But this also gave them room to emphasize premium pet boxes alongside SSBs and Royal Face/Hair Coupons. The pet boxes have a low chance to give you a permanent pet, but will more often than not just hand out a generic 90 day pet. All for the same price. There's often one or two styles gamers might want when it comes to appearance coupons, too, often set in a roster of much less appealing clothes or looks.

[@permafrostyx]

Nexon should go to jail

[@jackdaniel3135]

One of the very rare moments that my boy Gabe N deserves to be called out.

[@sulphurous2656]

There is nowhere enough videos deconstructing and calling out the true nature of the Steam Item Economy. Whether that be due to the way it fosters gambling, or the fact that almost all of its value is driven by completely artificial scarcity. You can't simply buy the exact skins you want directly through Valve, it always has to be through some kind of middleman, whether that'd be the SCM or through the long dead practice of trading.

[@lunara4545]

You also get Trading Cards with every game, even if you dont interact with them, there is a high chance you will know about the steam community market or trading through them, so everyone is exposed to it in one way or another with using Steam.

[@TheNewms90]

I'm glad you made this. I thought the skin gambling websites had died or at least faded into obscurity enough to not be as much of an issue, but apparently, I was wrong.

[@konradzukowski213]

The saddest part is how few countries do anything to stop that and most countries do nothing because those systems don't apply 1 to 1 to their laws. Probably the most often excuse I've heard on why in-game gambling systems are legal is because winnings don't provide IRL monetary value and most games circumvent gambling laws by being self contained systems where you can't sell or even trade items you get from those systems. Governments can change their laws to extend the definition of gambling, but most don't do it, not really helped by the fact that most of government officials responsible for those regulations are too old, probably still struggling with how smartphones work, let alone video games . And for those few who do, it takes years for them to even acknowledge the issue and even longer to actually change something to prevent those systems from exploiting minors. The video game industry advances faster than governments can regulate their actions.

[@superspies32]

government officials responsible for those regulations are too old, probably still struggling with how smartphones work, let alone video games Sir, you are overestimated their ability, Joe Biden cannot even realized what he is talking to or where he is.

[@kussbaby]

Incredible video, thank you!

[@alberteinstein5421]

Very well created documentary. Downloaded it to serve as memory of the old days

[@WaterBisquitte]

Nuts that everyone that covers this topic refuses to note that in 2011 Valve added crates to Team Fortress 2 first, and only moved this system over to CS when they found it was successful

[@zensavage5119]

Thank you for putting this out there

[@sulphurous2656]

What's also worse, is that Valve deliberately killed the viability of trading within the Steam item economy some years ago with an update, further encouraging that transactions be funneled through their tax collection system or slot machines.

[@qocks40]

That is not true , it was actually done becuase of gambling

[@paranoidpanzerpenguin5262]

@@qocks40 Their weapon cases ARE gambling lol.

[@V-O-V]

They killed the trading scene specifically because of the gambling sites. The 7 day tradehold was meant to massively slow down gambling sites ability to deposit and withdraw items instantly

[@viriatorr]

The best video talking about the truth about Valve and CS. A breeding ground for young and old gamblers. I hope they prohibit this type of business in all countries.

[@mikeAK89]

I’ll be honest, seeing the video thumbnail and title of this one, I actually scrolled past it thinking it wouldn’t be anything special. Coming back and watching it, I have to say, this may be one of your best pieces. Phenomenal work, I really hope society starts taking younger generational problems more seriously or we’re all fucked :(

[@romeostar166]

We cannot let another generation get ruined by gambling products "for children" such as pokemon cards or CSGO skins. We need to do something about this. We need to start spreading awareness and stop mindlessly praising corporations (such as Valve) behind these inhuman products.

[@threestars2164]

Kids are gambling for characters on games like genshin impact nowadays.

[@evilmanua]

Biggest digital store is just a front for a casino.

[@lycanwarrior2137]

Considering how much Steam fanboys shill for them... I'd better see other KZbinrs doing videos on this!

[@Schniebel89]

Humans are exceptional in circumventing laws and restrictions. It's in our nature and made us the dominant species. Lawmakers don't understand that and it was shown time and time again that humans don't care about laws when the reward is high enough.

[@DavidJCobb]

nah, the lawmakers get it just fine. they just don't care. things like the pachinko setup with multiple buildings, for example, are basically just structuring, which is a crime in the US. lawmakers _can_ make it a crime to circumvent laws through "clever" excuses, if they actually want to

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Don't speak on all of us. I've walked out on jobs that were legal but unethical. We're not all creeps out to hurt + exploit everyone else on earth.

[@oldmanbanjo]

I remember talking to Kira years ago and asking why he'd never gone after Valve. I think he said something like "they're too big to care." Well, I guess things change ;)

[@KingFluffs]

Valve knows about this and doesn't care. They just care about money. They had a community moderator who was a registered SO with warrents out for his arrest (he was hiding out in Vegas) and did nothing when he was using the platform to get more victims (He would also reverse community bans for a price).

[@khandimahn9687]

All that money, and they still can't make Half-Life 3.

[@hiraldosternflyer7112]

I'm so glad I'm too old for this shit.

[@Safersephiroth777]

I never understood why skins and such matter. They don't do anything. They offer no advantage. So why?

[@mb2776]

I have severe ADHD and I never be able to even touch those kind of games. the dangers are just too high for me to get addicted and lose everything I got. I got into pokemon cards and mtg as a kid and that was kinda okay cause back in the days with no paypal and other stuff, it was harder to you lose you money that way. I didn't bought many boosters cause in all essence, those are physical loot boxes if you really think about it. I pulled one (back then) expensive card. I bought boosters after that but I realiced quickly that this was probably my sign to stop. and that's what I did, still happy with the decision. MTG got worse over the years anyway...

[@MrVad3r]

about time. its crazy how its out so in the open yet somehow valve doesnt get treated like how EA is treated.

[@GameDevyn]

I've been saying it for a while, there's little difference between NFT's in video games and counter strike gun skins. I realize NFT's are regularly used to scam, but if you genuinely wanted to do what the NFT game devs claim to be trying to do, you could just create something tied to your game that's traded on the steam marketplace.

[@maxstr]

There's a big difference. I'm not a crypto bro and I don't own any NFT, but my understanding is you own an NFT. You don't "own" Steam marketplace items and Valve can simply take it all away.

[@GameDevyn]

@@maxstr totally, but it’s the same thing if the folks trying to sell you the NFT as some sort of “utility token” for a redeemable thing in a game. They go “buy this NFT, it gets you these things in a game that doesn’t exist yet” and if the game does exist, there’s nothing stopping them from halting development or discontinuing things and suddenly your NFT has no value.

[@jsrodman]

If there were nfts in games, the games companies could still turn them off. Also you only "own" anything with an nft because there's a contract saying you do. Sometimes there's not even that, so you own nothing ever. But contracts are not transferrable do selling them is impossible. I know you were sold a story about how nfts work, but people lie.

[@GameDevyn]

@@jsrodman lol what? Not transferable? The whole point of being on a blockchain is that every transfer gets written to it so you have “receipts” when they change hands. The whole point is transferability.

[@stealthysaucepan2016]

noooo but nft bad, csgo microtransaction good!

[@apostoldimov9856]

Astonishing documentary Kira💯 One Love Dude💎

[@185MDE]

Man please take this comparison as a compliment… this was a LEMMiNO level documentary. You’ve really got what it takes for long form content. I’m looking forward to more!

[@nicoogden]

There are no good billionaires.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Every billionaire is dozens of policy failures in a designer trenchcoat.

[@cybroxde]

The original idea of being able to sell collectibles from a game you no longer play to finance the purchase of new games is actually really cool. (Just the marketplace part, before paid CS skins and crates!). I do agree that opening crates in games should be treated as gambling in general. That being said, I don't think it's feasible to make it the publishers responsibility to crack down on third parties that build gambling mechanics on top of a simple market (assuming CS did NOT have loot boxes). People have sold in-game items for real world money for decades, even if the game did not facilitate this originally. And while the provider (VALVE in this case) can send out cease and desist letters, so could any regulatory body that clearly sees what these sites provide. Yes, the companies that earn money through these transactions are not in the right to simply ignore the issue but neither is anyone else who is blatantly ignoring it. In tech in general, it is exceptionally hard to pass laws that would prohibit companies from being in VALVEs position while not unintentionally severely restricting other parts of the industry.

[@peacemaster8117]

Yeah, that was my feeling too. Valve takes a 'hands off' approach to almost everything, and most of the time I respect and appreciate that laissez faire attitude, but in the case of their involvement in the gambling industry I really feel they have a moral obligation to crack down, and that consumers should be pressuring them to do that.

[@dominykaszakrys3373]

The ST AK-47 Case Hardened 661 back in the day could have been sold for ~100 dollars because noone in those days cared about in game looks but rather how the actual skin is called... As of today the one that got crafted is estimated to be worth between 1.5 - 3 million usd...

[@V-O-V]

the reason it is worth so much is because in 10 years a ST FN 661 was NEVER unboxed, over a billion skins in existence and that specific pattern was never generated. Thats why its so desired.

[@sitdow712]

really good video ! I'm happy people speak out more and more agains't gachas too, they're really a plague and I got tricked into losing money because of one of them. They should legally be treated as gambling games.

[@all3skl4r]

Parents are at fault for not controlling their child, like come on, they are the ones that give them the credit card and tell them to f off, its their responsibility not Steams or anyone elses

[@Nyllsor]

This is very much overlooked in the video and by 90% of the commentors.

[@HP2FA]

37:40 Kira’s crippling addiction to Pokemon cards as a kid was prevented by proper parenting or was it banned in school? I want to understand why Magic cards get a pass in the video because you get a physical card with actual value (do land cards have value?). Did I miss a different Kira video where he went hard on physical trading card games that are also loot boxes? I think the characterization of gacha monetization being synonymous with casino gambling is reductive. It is a monetization method that the market can decide. I can vote with my wallet to not engage with the portions of the game with value that I find disagreeable (e.g., random loot box skins) and only engage with the portions of the game with value that I find agreeable (e.g., paid skins). A free to play gacha game with no gameplay value will simply kill itself off.

[@all3skl4r]

@@HP2FA yeah I agree with you to a degree. I think the general opinion of the gaming community (including all types of gamers) on gacha games is actually very positive and I would say even misguided, as Kira pointed out, just like CSGO skins. I think people never really call it for what it is, it indeed is gambling. CSGO is an anomaly because it is just so fkn good, but majority of the gacha games aren't, CSGO can and will exist even without this gambling system while gacha games are made first with the shop and monetization system in mind and then a game attached to it, without the system the game wouldn't exist. I know Genshin is a good game and yes they seem to be an anomaly currently, but if that system wasn't there the game wouldn't be either. I also feel like this is becoming a problem with other games too now, recently an example would be Suicide Squad. Its not wrong to like these games of course, but just be real with them, they are what they are. Again we are all adults and we all have our own free will, I totally agree with voting with your wallet, I never look back, if its bad I just won't engage with it. Who cares? Its only a game, plenty other ones who will respect my time. I will say that I don't like how Kira tries to remove all responsibility for these self inflicted victims of gambling.

[@ricky_pigeon]

Some kids are uncontrollable, like i was when i was a kid, i used to buy cigarettes though i didn't smoke, and sell them at school. i used to buy pokemon card packs and sell the cards separately for more money. I used to buy candy and sell it because kids on the bus didn't have the chance to go by a shop. I made so much money as a kid but i never stole, i was a polite kid and always seemed good as gold in front of my parents, they never had a clue how i invested my lunch money. Some kids did steal though, i remember one kid ran in a shop grabbed an adult magazine so he could sell them at school, some stole pokemon cards packs. People who blame parents for kids being kids are clueless, perhaps you think you're a good parent like mine thought they was. but they can't watch you 24/7. A bad parent in my views is one who would say something like this, oblivious to how kids really are. This is why adding prevention in law can help. But again i used to buy cigarettes when i was 14 so.. it doesn't always, but it did make it much harder to impossible when the government got stricter about ID. and my parents couldn't walk me to school becuase they had jobs like both parents should have. So again, blaming parents shows how oblivious you are as a parent, kids are not stupid, they might be inexperienced but they will find ways to do something if they want it.

[@NiklasKI]

You dont need the credit card. Gift Cards in Super markets or you let your parents buy you a game and refund it to get money to gamble.