Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games have said that virtual currencies within games are “fictions created by game publishers” during a lawsuit which alleges that money is effectively stolen from players when games are shut down.
The lawsuit, originally filed in November by a Californian minor and his mother, alleges that Take-Two is guilty of civil theft and unfair business practicies for closing down servers for various NBA 2K, WWE 2K and PGA Tour 2K titles, causing players to lose access to any remaining in-game funds they have paid for.
“VC [virtual currency] is not plaintiff’s property,” a Take-Two lawyer stated this week, as reported by Game File. “Instead, in-game VC are fictions created by game publishers, subject to the publishers’ terms of service and user agreements.”
Requesting that the case be dismissed, Take-Two pointed to clauses in each of its games’ EULA documents – the End User License Agreements that nobody actually bothers to read – which state that players also have only a “limited right and license” to virtual currency that Take-Two can choose to “suspend” or “eliminate… as it sees fit”.
The original lawsuit claims that keeping virtual currency is “unfair, illegal and greedy” and calls for Take-Two to offer refunds on any unspent funds if servers are shut down.
A court will decide in March whether the case will be dismissed, or allowed to continue.
Earlier this week, 2K removed wrestler Brock Lesnar from a special edition cover of this year’s upcoming WWE 2K24 due to allegations surrounding him and former WWE boss Vince McMahon.
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