Valve have updated the developer guidelines for releasing a game on Steam, making it clear that the scourge of mobile gaming advertising-based business models are not going to work on Steam.
There two big differences to me are scale and value. A ccg has rare cards, but they aren’t actually that rare compared to loot boxes. Loot boxes tend to have both lower drop rates and pollute their drops with lots of garbage, even for rare drops. Secondly, physical cards have value, you can sell or trade them, you can buy singles of cards you want. You can use them for things other than the game as well.
Aside from drop rates everything you said applies to Valve too. Counter Strike skins can be traded or sold for real cash (tied to steam wallet, but still), and you can purchase singles of what you want.
I know other games loot boxes dont follow this, but its interesting for the sake of comparison.
There two big differences to me are scale and value. A ccg has rare cards, but they aren’t actually that rare compared to loot boxes. Loot boxes tend to have both lower drop rates and pollute their drops with lots of garbage, even for rare drops. Secondly, physical cards have value, you can sell or trade them, you can buy singles of cards you want. You can use them for things other than the game as well.
Aside from drop rates everything you said applies to Valve too. Counter Strike skins can be traded or sold for real cash (tied to steam wallet, but still), and you can purchase singles of what you want.
I know other games loot boxes dont follow this, but its interesting for the sake of comparison.