Class Action Claims NBA 2K Gamers’ Virtual Currency ‘Needlessly’ Removed by Video Game Operators

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A proposed class action alleges video game publisher 2K Games, Inc. and parent company Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. “needlessly” wipe out the virtual currency (VC) stored in gamers’ accounts when retiring an old version of a game.

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The 14-page lawsuit says that after “bombarding” users—particularly children—with “manipulative marketing” intended to entice them to buy VC with real money, the companies eliminate gamers’ access to any remaining funds in their in-game wallets when terminating an older game. The suit claims that by doing so, the defendants hope to push gamers to purchase more VC in the new version of the game.

Like many of the publisher’s games, the popular NBA 2K franchise allows players to make in-game purchases with VC to improve the gaming experience, the case explains. These in-game upgrades, the complaint argues, are “particularly appealing to young gamers,” who are “constantly” encouraged to buy VC by “youth-targeted offers, deals, and advertisements from companies selling cookies, breakfast cereal, sneakers, soda, and sports drinks.”

As the filing tells it, when 2K Games introduces a new version of a game, it retires the older one by disabling the servers that host the game’s live, online platform. Though consumers who own an older version of the game can continue playing, they can no longer access its online environment and features, the lawsuit shares.

In addition, any remaining VC stored in a player’s in-game wallet is removed when the game is terminated, the suit says. According to the case, the moment the game’s server is disabled, consumers’ accounts instantly plummet to a zero VC balance without the option to transfer the funds to the new version or other games offered by the company.

“Gamers are given no warning when they purchase the in-game currency that it can be destroyed at 2K Games’ whim,” the complaint contends. “Their only option is to swallow their losses and, if they wish to continue to use 2K Games’ pay-to-play features, re-up new funds in an active version of the game.”

The filing claims that gamers may have lost hundreds or even thousands of dollars’ worth of VC when their accounts were emptied by 2K Games, which apparently retires older games far more frequently than other video game publishers.

“There is no justification for wiping out gamers’ VC,” the lawsuit argues. “For years, other gaming franchises, such as Call of Duty, have carried over the equivalent of VC into newer editions of the game, allowing users of newer versions to use in-game currency collected in older versions.”

The case contests that there is no legitimate reason—technological, business-related or otherwise—for erasing gamers’ stored VC, nor have the defendants offered an explanation for the practice, the filing says. As such, the complaint charges that the companies’ conduct is simply “unfair, illegal, and greedy.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone whose in-game currency was removed from a 2K Games account since November 17, 2019.

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