The latest update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive brings both good news and bad news for players in the Netherlands. Steam trading and Steam Market functionality, which were disabled last month, have been re-enabled, but players in the country, as well as Belgium, are no longer able to open containers—which is to say, loot boxes.
Market and item trading were switched off after the Netherlands Gaming Authority ruled that some videogame loot boxes—it didn't reveal which—were in violation of the country's gambling laws and therefore had to be changed, with a deadline set for June 20. Valve said at the time that it didn't "understand or agree with" the ruling, and had contacted the Gambling Authority for clarification; in the meantime, "our only practical alternative is to disable trading and Steam," it explained.
Belgium issued a similar ruling on loot boxes shortly after the Netherlands and specifically named CS:GO, along with Overwatch and FIFA 18, as being in contravention of the law, but did not set a deadline for compliance.
Re-enabling the CS:GO market, but disabling cases, means that players in the Netherlands will be able to buy and sell items directly, but not partake in the randomized luck-of-the-draw of lootboxes. That probably won't make CS:GO fans who like to play the ponies very happy, but it's presumably enough to keep Valve out of legal trouble, and it's better than the across-the-board shutdown that Valve went with originally.
The latest CS:GO patch notes are available in full at counter-strike.net.
