Take-Two is facing a lawsuit over NBA 2K loot boxes and microtransactions

pcgamer.com:

Take-Two Interactive is facing a lawsuit over the presence of loot boxes in its NBA 2K games and the VC—virtual currency—that players use to purchase them. The suit doesn't reference the newest game in the series, NBA 2K22, specifically, but notes that games in the series are offered at standard purchase prices but then encourage players to spend even more on other in-game content.

«The fixed price model, where customers purchase NBA 2K to access its content, is deceptive where customers believe they will have a comprehensive playing experience after their transaction, only to find out the game is littered with microtransactions which are necessary for players, including minors, to advance and compete within the game,» the suit states.

It's not merely the presence of the post-purchase content that's an issue, though, but the way that Take-Two offers it. Content purchases must be made using VC which can be earned through gameplay, but doing so is «difficult, time consuming, and an inconsistent process.» That induces players to simply buy the VC they want, the suit claims, while discounts offered on large purchases of VC encourages them to spend more than they may need to.

The nature of VC itself is also an issue, according to the suit, because it «distances the player psychologically» from the amount of real money they've sunk into the game «by disconnecting the expenditure of real money from the products the players end up purchasing with their VC.»

«This is especially the case for minors who may not have a firm understanding of the correlation between the amount of real-world money and VC spent,» the suit states. «These transactions are particularly costly as the player has already spent up to $99.99 to purchase the