GTA 5 publisher takes legal aim at account-selling site for allegedly raking in 'millions in revenue', while recruiting hackers to keep its cogs turning

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Take-Two Interactive, publisher of Grand Theft Auto 5, is suing PlayerAuctions, a Chinese-owned site known for facilitating the trading and selling of player accounts and digital currencies in online games.

That's as per a report by Polygon late last week, which states that Take-Two is alleging "the website PlayerAuctions.com offers a vast online marketplace containing thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing GTA 5 content" in a complaint.

The publisher's lawyer then goes on to accuse PlayerAuctions of peddling "heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency—all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits."

"Take-Two has repeatedly confronted PlayerAuctions with evidence of infringement and other tortious conduct, and has demanded that it cease and desist its unlawful activities. PlayerAuctions refuses to stop because it continues to rake in illicit profits through the wholesale, willful infringement of Take-Two's copyrights and trademarks, and the intentional interference with Take-Two's relationships with its customers.

If you're at all familiar with MMOs, you'll know this sort of thing isn't new—gold sellers and account 'service providers' have run amok since the days of yore. Developers are in a constant war with bots, one seemingly defined by attrition and having precious little end. Certain public figures, ahem, have also made use of similar services before.

While GTA Online isn't exactly an MMO in the more traditional sense, it's still been an enduring name in the live service space, and it's a money-making machine for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar. So much so that more traditional DLCs were shoved out of the way so its online component could flourish. I'm not shocked that Take-Two is taking aim at PlayerAuctions for illegitimately muscling in on its business.

Though, to be fair, it's not just an issue of money. It is very much true that, in order to stay competitive, the sellers PlayerAuctions facilitates will hack accounts rather than grind out digital currencies or level accounts themselves. There's a very real argument you can make that these sorts of ecosystems aren't just annoying for players, but risking their online safety, as well. PlayerAuctions is also in trouble from another online giant, too—with Roblox coming for it in a lawsuit last month.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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