Game on for fraudsters? Paul Schwartfeger & Nadia Latti consider civil fraud in platform-controlled digital assets
- Platform-controlled digital assets can generate real value, real fraud and real losses—yet they often sit beyond the reach of orthodox proprietary remedies, even as the courts begin to recognise their functional reality.
- This article considers the legislation, case law and scope for remedies.
If someone gains access to your gaming account and steals a unique, legendary item, you have plainly lost something of value. That item might have taken you hundreds of hours to acquire. It may have cost real money upfront or formed part of a limited release whose value later spiked. It might be irreplaceable or, in exceptional cases, saleable for a substantial sum on the platform or a third-party marketplace, as the sale of a Counter-Strike 2 virtual weapon for more than $1m shows. Yet, if the matter reaches court, an awkward question may arise: have you lost any ‘property’ of value at all?
Modern online games and other digital platforms often contain vast internal economies. How
