GamesSimTake-Two Interactive says in-game currencies are ‘fictions’ that players can’t actually ownWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesSimTake-Two Interactive says in-game currencies are ‘fictions’ that players can’t actually ownWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: 2K Games)

Filed in November 2023, thelawsuitstates that the NBA 2K series offers in-game currency for purchase that can then be used to acquire cosmetics, performance boosters, and other features that would otherwise be unavailable. But when older versions of those games are retired, access to that currency is lost, as is the value of the money spent on them: Take-Two doesn’t offer refunds for unused in-game currency, nor does it allow it to be transferred to newer games in the series.
“Gamers are given no warning when they purchase the in-game currency that it can be destroyed at 2K Games’ whim,” the lawsuit states. “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.”
In arequest for dismissalfiled on February 2 (viaGame File), lawyers for Take-Two said the claim is a “novel argument” that doesn’t hold water because Take-Two is “allowed to make business decisions” about its operations, and that virtual currency “is a thing that exists solely within the confines of each of those games.”
Take-Two also makes an argument adjacent to the defense of loot boxes: That there is no “economic injury” because the plaintiff got exactly what they paid for, that being in-game currency. In fact, the filing cites as precedent a loot box lawsuit against Apple that was dismissed because the plaintiff “obtained exactly what he paid for—virtual currency that he was free to use in the game.”
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I don’t expect Take-Two is going to launch its own cryptocurrency (2Koins, perhaps?) anytime soon, but if this argument results in a dismissal it’ll be very interesting to see if that leads into any sort of meaningful push in that direction from gamers—which would almost certainly spill over into other games that use virtual currencies too.
TOPICSTake-Two Interactive
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