A fan has revealed how much he spent on in-game currency in NBA 2K25, as he warns others about following in his footsteps.
Free-to-play games have paved the way for predatory microtransactions in a litany of titles, and while it’s easy to blame companies for enabling these practices, sometimes you have to turn the mirror on ordinary players.
Microtransactions are often associated with skin cosmetics in titles like Fortnite, but there are plenty in full priced games too – especially sports games like EA Sports FC 25, which still uses what are essentially loot boxes for the Ultimate Team mode.
These virtual collectible cards are prevalent in other sports games like NBA 2K25, and for one player they’ve cost him upwards of $32,000.
In a video posted on his channel, YouTuber 2KOG breaks down his transaction history in NBA 2K25 over the past year. Within 11 months from September 4, 2024 to August 5, 2025, he claims to have spent $32,831,68 (£24,384) on the basketball sim.
As seen in the video, the bulk of these transactions have gone towards virtual in-game currency for MyTeam cards – NBA 2K’s equivalent of Ultimate Team – along with season passes.
2KOG isn’t proud of this number though, and clarifies he’s in an unusual position where he can afford to spend this amount of money. ‘Most of you know I have a normal 9-5 type job, I also own my own business,’ he said in the clip.
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‘And I do make a little bit of money off of doing these YouTube videos, so my situation is probably a lot different to most people who watch and play the game.’
Despite his financial position though, 2KOG warned others from investing this amount of money into a game. ‘It’s absolutely not worth it,’ he added. ‘Even if I was breaking even [through YouTube videos], that’s still a lot of resources that were put into this.’
Incredibly, despite spending over £24,000, he still doesn’t have all the cards available in NBA 2K25 , due to the amount of duplicates he’s pulled from packs.
‘I should have pretty much every card in the game, and I don’t,’ he added. ‘And all I can do is sit here and think about how much money I’ve wasted.
‘I did create a [YouTube] channel but it paid me a tenth of what I spent. So there’s no way anyone can tell me it was worth it.’
2KOG’s financial woes have since gone viral on X. At the time of writing, 2KOG’s YouTube channel dedicated to NBA 2K25, which he started a year ago, has 3,5000 subscribers.
If you need another reason why spending this amount of money on NBA 2K is a waste of time, none of these purchases will carry over to the series’ next instalment, NBA 2K26, which is set to come out on September 6, 2025. Instead, they’ll all have to be bought again for another £24K+.
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