With their coins stacked, gamers purchased any card they wanted, including the costly and ultrarare Kobe Bryant card, which can cost around 2 million coins (or about $300). Players also snagged the new Victor Wembanyama card (worth about $75), which has been deemed one of the best players to use in the game. Other top-tier player cards, such as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo (who were obtainable by locking in a set of other high-priced cards), were also rounded up during the shopping spree.
The debacle happened on the day after Christmas, when NBA 2K, a gaming franchise played by millions every year and owned by the billion-dollar company Take-Two Interactive, typically sees a new influx of players.
It wasn’t until late Tuesday morning that 2K fixed its mistake and made it so that George’s card sold for less than its buy price. Several gamers posted photos of their accounts wiped of all their coins but not the cards they gobbled up during the exploit.
“The Paul George massacre is an embarrassing event,” said Cody Richinson, an NBA 2K YouTuber named Big C Richy with 41,000 followers. “It has completely dismantled and ruined the game mode as we know it.”
Representatives for NBA 2K did not respond to multiple requests for comment about players taking advantage of the error, the cost of its cards or if it plans to institute bans for players who purchased cards during this window.
But the shopping spree controversy is still reverberating throughout the super-online NBA 2K community, who typed out their frustrations on X (formerly Twitter) and ranted in YouTube videos. Some players said the error allowed some users to have the best teams in the game, meaning newbies who got the game on Christmas wouldn’t stand a chance during online competitions. Others argued that the exploit was unfair for those who spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the game, since so many people obtained costly players free without repercussions.
“What customer that spent hundreds of dollars would want to continue spending money when they could just simply wait for the next exploit to happen?” said Richinson. “I will give them the benefit of the doubt that it is the holidays, and not everyone’s around to make a decision, but I hope the right thing is done.”
The “right thing,” according to several gamers, is an acknowledgment of the incident by 2K and at least one free high-end card for all to help balance out the rosters. Some players have gone as far as to file tickets to NBA 2K’s support team looking for compensation, too. At least one reply from the support team obtained by The Washington Post directed a player to NBA 2K’s Discord channel so they could speak with other members of the community.
“No official word, apology, or make-right? It’s disappointing,” said Matt Eastwood, a 33-year-old 2K gamer who goes by “Between the 3s” on X. “It makes you lose faith in 2K and makes it easier to not feel invested in the mode.”
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. On Dec. 5, 2K released a set of digital cards that were based on real-life NBA moments from the season. Players who bought all of the moments-based cards would unlock special digital cards of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Rudy Gobert and Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma. However, when the cards were made available in the game, the Gobert and Kuzma collection rewards were available for purchase outright. So players bought and sold them for thousands of coins, allowing them to snag other top-tier cards in the process.
In response, NBA 2K wiped away extra coins that players obtained because of the company’s error. The game’s publisher also released a code that gave all gamers a free Kuzma or Gobert card to make up for the mistake. “Thank you for your understanding,” 2K said at the time, roughly six hours after the exploit occurred.
Both errors come as NBA 2K instituted a new “player market” for this year’s edition of its annual game. Previous NBA 2K games had an auction house where players could bid or simply purchase cards at their leisure, allowing them to find good deals from a free moving market or make coins by buying and selling at the right time.
However, through that system, gamers could purchase coins through third-party websites or easily transfer coins to different accounts (both actions violate 2K’s terms of service). NBA 2K issued a series of bans during “NBA 2K23” because of the third-party purchasing and then shutdown the auction house for “NBA 2K24,” taking control of its own market.
“2K’s decision to control the entire market leaves the door open for errors like this to happen every time they release anything into the game,” said Mick Curley, a 2K YouTuber named “DBG” who has more than 400,000 subscribers.
He said in previous games the auction house would have been flooded with George’s card, which would only allow that card’s price to drop. “However, it wouldn’t have allowed people to purchase thousands’ worth of cards free,” he said.
While Curley and others in the NBA 2K online community often point out errors, mistakes and issues with the mode, 2K isn’t always as quick to respond. 2K did not respond when players expressed concern over the “NBA 2K24” season pass (which gives out extra in-game rewards for $10 to $20 per month) or when players were upset over the game’s lack of direction in “NBA 2K23.” Representatives spoke to The Post about the game’s 25th anniversary and have been open to other news outlets about their charity and philanthropic ventures.
Though the company hasn’t responded directly to the George incident, it has offered new gamers free “tokens” as a part of its holiday promotion (tokens help gamers obtain smaller and mostly insignificant items) and announced a new round of digital cards set to be released Friday. NBA 2K also asked its community who picked up the rare Bryant card, which led gamers to cheekily reply with a picture of the now-infamous George card.
The George exploit is a call back to another time when NBA 2K was embroiled in controversy around the holidays.
For “NBA 2K19,” a several players discovered a hidden code for a free LeBron James card, which had juiced stats and abilities. The code was, according to NBA 2K YouTubers, originally meant for people who bought a specific brand of LeBron James shoes. But many players got their hands on the code and obtained the card free.
The moment of revelry ended in darkness though, as those who acquired the card free got it swiped away — an incident now referred to by the community as when “2K stole Christmas.”
“2K,” said J.A. Bridgeforth, who shares NBA 2K news to his 16,000 followers on X, “is known for making a mistake and then fixing it, but then saying nothing about it.”
Michael Johnson is a tech enthusiast with a passion for all things digital. His articles cover the latest technological innovations, from artificial intelligence to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
