Summary
- Take-Two Interactive is suing a third-party GTA Online marketplace for selling assets, currency, and account hacks.
- Purchasing in-game assets disrupts Take-Two’s ability to profit from legitimate in-game sales.
- PlayerAuctions is accused of enabling players to gain unfair advantages in games like GTA Online through illegitimate means.
Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, is suing a third-party GTA Online marketplace. The lawsuit alleges that the marketplace is selling assets, currency, and account hacks that are disrupting Take-Two Interactive’s business and causing irreparable harm to GTA Online.
In Grand Theft Auto Online, players don’t start out with much to their name, but can build up a massive criminal empire. Through a lot of time and effort, players can unlock businesses, high-difficulty heists, a slew of different varieties of vehicles, and a great deal of in-game money, as well. However, some players are reportedly utilizing third-party services to avoid the money grind in GTA Online, and Take-Two Interactive is now closing in on one of the businesses allegedly offering these services.
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A lawsuit complaint, uncovered by Polygon, has revealed that Take-Two Interactive is suing the company behind website PlayerAuctions. According to the complaint, PlayerAuctions is a marketplace that allows gamers to find services that allow them to gain advantages in games that wouldn’t ordinarily be possible, like buying in-game currency or items. Take-Two Interactive claims that the assets being sold to GTA Online players aren’t “legitimate,” meaning that rather than a player earning something and then selling it, these assets are being unlocked via hacks and GTA Online cheats. In other cases, users may temporarily hand over their account credentials to either acquire said services or to permanently sell them to another user, which is a violation of the terms of service players agree to when they sign up for an account for GTA Online.
Third-Party Marketplace Could Hurt Take-Two Interactive’s Bottom Line
In addition to giving players an unfair advantage, sales of in-game assets, accounts, or services could undermine Take-Two Interactive’s ability to make money selling in-game currency in GTA Online. GTA Online‘s Shark Cards and GTA+ are the only legitimate way to purchase currency in the game. If players utilize an illegitimate third-party service to do this, Take-Two Interactive doesn’t earn anything. While GTA has had no shortage of game sales over the years, generating a ton of profit in the process, GTA Online still requires online infrastructure that requires money to maintain.
Fighting gold sellers, bots, and cheats has been an ongoing battle for online games for as long as they’ve existed. This isn’t the only time that PlayerAuctions has been hit with a lawsuit from a game developer or publisher, but thus far, the marketplace has remained online. Other games have faced similar problems, with the publishers behind titles like Valorant and Destiny 2 suing individual cheat makers for similar reasons.
- Released
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October 1, 2013
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
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Rockstar North