Lawsuit Forces 2K to Explain Why NBA 2K Players Can’t Transfer Digital Currency: “You Have No Ownership or Other Rights” to Virtual Items
Newly unsealed court documents reveal that Take-Two Interactive has no plans to let players carry VC from one NBA 2K game to the next—and the company is now being forced to explain why in court.
The Core Issue: Every Year, Players Start Over
Every year, millions of players buy the latest NBA 2K game. They grind for VC (the series’ in-game digital currency), or they buy it outright to upgrade their MyPLAYER and grab new cosmetics. Then the next year arrives, a new NBA 2K drops, and all that VC is left behind. Nothing carries over.
That practice sits at the heart of a 2023 class action lawsuit against publisher 2K and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive. The suit, filed in California by a minor identified as J.A. with the help of his mother and lawyer, claims this annual reset amounts to theft. Take-Two denies the allegation.
Now, newly unsealed court documents—including a 2025 deposition reported by GameFile—are pulling back the curtain on the company’s reasoning. And the explanations may not sit well with longtime players.
“There Is No Technical Solution in Existence”
During his deposition, NBA 2K vice president of production management Michael O’Dwyer was asked directly why VC can’t transfer between games.
“There’s a lot of reasons for that,” O’Dwyer said. “First and foremost, there is no technical solution in existence.”
Take-Two’s lawyers also pointed to the game’s terms of service, which players agree to when they buy and play NBA 2K. Buried in thousands of words—described elsewhere in the documents by J.A.’s lawyer as “overly harsh, unduly oppressive, and unfairly one-sided”—is a clause stating that VC is a “virtual item.” According to the 2024 terms of service, players “agree that you have no ownership or other rights in or to any Virtual Items or your Account.”
In other words, the currency you paid for? You don’t actually own it.
“A Completely Fresh Start”—Whether You Like It or Not
O’Dwyer also offered what he called a “very important primary reason” for blocking VC transfers.
“We want every new game that we release to be a completely fresh start where every user, regardless of whether they’ve been in a prior game or they’re entering our franchise and seeing this current game for the very first time, that they all come in with an exactly equal opportunity,” he said.
It’s a philosophy that sounds fair on paper. But in practice, it means veterans who spent hundreds of dollars on VC in NBA 2K25, NBA 2K26, or earlier titles watch that value evaporate the moment a new game launches. Meanwhile, anyone looking to jump into the next entry—whether through NBA 2K27 CD Keys or other methods—will be starting from zero all over again.
The “Earned vs. Paid” Problem
O’Dwyer further explained that allowing players to roll over purchased but unused VC would require 2K to “separate what’s earned versus paid.”
In NBA 2K, players can earn VC simply by playing the game. But buying VC is far faster, letting you upgrade your player and buy new cosmetic items almost immediately. It has become a massive—and controversial—part of the NBA 2K experience.
Technically, the developers could split VC into owned and earned buckets. Take-Two simply doesn’t want to.
“That’s not something we philosophically want to do,” O’Dwyer said.
He added: “We know it’s a massive undertaking which would come at the direct cost of many other things we want to invest our dev, time, and resources in. Not to mention we don’t even think the player benefit is there, so we don’t want to do it.”
When asked whether 2K could develop a new system to split up VC, O’Dwyer replied, “We’ve never actually tried to make this change or been desired to make this change.” He also noted it would take a “complete redesign of a very complex game.”
The Bigger Picture: Digital Ownership in 2026
Step back for a moment, and the implications go far beyond NBA 2K.
According to publishers, you don’t own the games you buy digitally. And you don’t even own the currency you buy inside those games. It’s not hard to understand why so many people are yelling at Sony over the death of physical games when this is the current state of digital game rights in 2026.
For NBA 2K players, the annual reset has become an accepted—if resented—ritual. Many still buy the new game every year, often hunting for NBA 2K27 Game Keys or discounted NBA 2K27 CD Keys to soften the blow. But the lawsuit raises a question that won’t go away: if you’re paying real money for virtual currency, what exactly are you paying for?
The Lawsuit Continues
The class action against Take-Two is still proceeding. No ruling has been issued, and the company continues to deny any wrongdoing.
What the unsealed documents make clear, however, is that Take-Two has no plans or desire to let players carry VC from one game to the next—no matter how much real money players have spent. And unless the lawsuit forces a change, every new NBA 2K will continue to offer the same promise: a completely fresh start, whether you want one or not.
For now, players looking to get into the next NBA 2K title—whether through official stores or marketplaces offering NBA 2K27 CD Keys and NBA 2K27 Game Keys—should go in with their eyes open. The VC you buy today almost certainly won’t follow you tomorrow.