I have railed about the microtransactions in NBA 2K25 and its ilk for years now, but even I didn't realize it had gotten this bad. YouTuber 2KOG is going viral for all the wrong reasons after a video in which he revealed spending a mindboggling $32, 831 in microtransactions.
By the way, 2KOG didn't start this string of transactions at launch in September, he. His spending spree didn't begin until March 31, 2025. He posted the video Aug. 5, so he spent that much money in just five months. Each transaction was slightly over $100.Making matters even worse, after spending that much, he doesn't even have all the best cards in NBA 2K's MyTeam mode. He estimates it would take him another $30,000 just to complete his team.
I play NBA 2K every year, but if that's what it takes to earn everything, I never will. I'm completely comfortable with that. By the way, NBA 2K25 just held its Summer Championship Finals with a total prize pool of $15,000.
NBA 2K and other Ultimate Team style modes have come under fire for using some of the same tactics that casinos use to keep gamblers engaged and frankly, addicted. NBA 2K19 contained actual casino games such as slot machines. After the resulting backlash, they removed some of the most egregious designs. But some of the same psychological tricks are very much in play. The Black Hokage does an excellent job explaining them in this video:
This is a common thread throughout games that allow you to pay to go farther, further, and faster. While the overwhelming majority of people spend nothing, whales often spend thousands of dollars and keep the money machine moving. As the Black Hokage points out, 2K certainly didn't create this phenomenon in gaming. But they're among the best at it.
The NBA 2K series has generated more than $4.5 billion in revenue over its lifetime. Its latest, NBA 2K25, has sold more than 7 million copies and according to stats provided by Take-Two Games, its daily active users went up by 20 percent and consumer spending was up by over 30 percent.