Take-Two Sues PlayerAuctions Over Illegal GTA Online Marketplace

Take-Two Interactive is on the offensive once again. This time, it's launching a lawsuit against PlayerAuctions, a third-party marketplace for video game assets. The legal action by Rockstar Games' parent company was filed in California, alleging that PlayerAuctions is facilitating the sale of unauthorized Grand Theft Auto Online content, including modified accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency obtained through illegal means, including hacking and cheating.

As discovered by Polygon, the lawsuit paints PlayerAuctions as a "lawless enterprise", claiming that its marketplace hosts thousands of listings for Grand Theft Auto V that is in direct violation of the game's terms of service and infringes on the company's copyrights and trademarks. The complaint alleges that PlayerAuctions is aware of these illicit activities and potentially earns millions in revenue from such transactions.

Take-Two's lawsuit highlights three main types of unauthorized transactions related to Grand Theft Auto: modded accounts, currency drops, and account boosting. Modded accounts, according to Take-Two, are altered using hacking software to provide players with artificially high rankings, excessive in-game currency, and unlocked content that would normally require significant gameplay or purchases to obtain.

Currency drops involve sellers generating large amounts of in-game money through exploits and transferring it to buyers, while account boosting services see sellers temporarily taking control of players' accounts to use cheats for rapid advancement. Take-Two argues that these practices severely undermine the intended player experience and create an unfair playing field, threatening the long-term viability and enjoyment of the game for its community.

GTA Online relies on the sale of legitimate in-game currency through Shark Cards and the GTA+ subscription service to generate revenue and support ongoing development and server maintenance. By facilitating the sale of hacked currency and modded accounts, PlayerAuctions is diverting potential income away from Take-Two while undermining the game's economy.

If Take-Two is successful with its lawsuit, which it likely will be considering its history of take downs that most recently included the Liberty City Preservation Project, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Next Gen Edition, and 2Take1, it will help establish stronger precedents for protecting game developers' intellectual property and enforcing terms of service agreements.

Take-Two continues to ramp up its efforts against gold sellers, bots, and cheats, ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 later this year. If the rumors are true that Rockstar and Take-Two are planning to turn GTA into the next live-service game, completely dropping the numbered installments, taking care of these legal matters now can save them from dealing with a ton of problems going forward.

Rockstar is currently hard at work on GTA 6, which may or may not get a new trailer sometime in April.