2K Games Won't Refund Gamers for Unused Currency When Games End: Class Action
For years, 2K Games has refused to refund gamers, including children, for their unused in-game currency, alleges a fraud class action Friday (docket 3:23-cv-05961 ) vs. 2K and Take-Two Interactive Software in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.
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When 2K Games terminates an older game, it also halts gamers’ access to funds remaining in their in-game wallets, according to the complaint. When the game ends, funds are lost and they can’t be transferred to another game, or redeemed, it said. Gamers receive no warning when they buy in-game currency that it “can be destroyed at 2K Games’ whim.” If players want to continue to use 2K Games’ pay-to-play features, their only option is to “reup new funds in an active version of the game,” it said.
2K Games profits off gamers, including children, by offering upgrades to their gaming experience in exchange for downloadable content (DLC) transactions, said the complaint. Games, including NBA 2K, offer gamers various in-game upgrades that are “particularly appealing to young gamers and are purchased in the game” using virtual currency (VC), it said. Gamers buy VC with real money, then use it to buy “tchotchkes or improve their gameplay.” For younger players, being competitive “requires purchasing VC due to the very nature of these games’ pay-to-win methodology,” it said.
Plaintiff J.A., a minor resident of California, represented by his mother, Andrea Deams, bought and had an account for video games, including NBA 2K. During 2020 and after, J.A. used fiat currency to buy VC in the NBA 2K game, the complaint said. In December and earlier, 2K Games disabled its servers for the version J.A. owned and eliminated the VC in his account. Currently, J.A. holds VC in a 2K Games account that, “based on information and belief, 2K Games intends to remove” next month, according to the complaint.
Younger players in the 2K Games world are presented with youth-targeted offers as they progress through a game's modes. The offers include deals and ads from companies selling cookies, breakfast cereal, sneakers, soda and sports drinks. These offers “encourag[e] them to spend real money to acquire VC,” said the complaint. Gamers are also pitched to buy card packs through cereal box ads, it said.
When 2K Games launches new versions of games yearly, it retires older versions by disabling the servers that allow the games to operate in a live, online environment, said the complaint. The company, which “retires games fare more rapidly than other publishers,” says the cost of continuing the operation and maintenance of servers “eventually becomes untenable as fewer and fewer gamers use older versions of the game,” the complaint said.
The company’s conduct is “unfair, illegal, and greedy,” said the complaint. “After bombarding gamers, including child gamers, with manipulative marketing designed to entice them to invest real money in VC under the pretense of ownership, it needlessly wipes out the VC they acquired to drive them to buy more VC in a new game setting,” said the complaint.
Claims include conversion, civil theft and unfair business practices. The plaintiff seeks an order enjoining 2K Games from removing VC from accounts; actual, compensatory and punitive damages; restitution; attorneys’ fees and legal costs; and pre- and postjudgment interest. Plaintiffs didn't comment Monday.