NBA 2K is continuing its trend of leaving fans behind

While NBA 2K doesn’t necessarily have a total monopoly on licensed NBA video games, it can sometimes feel like it’s the only shop in town, abusing its position to treat consumers badly. There have been years of griping about the game design and business practices that go into NBA 2K — criticism most of the major sporting franchises face — but consumers are taking the shuttering of 2K25’s online modes harder than usual.

Dexerto’s post has wording that moderately oversimplifies the circumstances. 25 will still be able to be played single player and offline, but, as the article by Cande Maldonado expands upon, the MyCareer and MyTeam modes will become unavailable.

The MyCareer mode, allowing players to create their own NBA stars, has been a cornerstone of the 2K product for years at this point, but since 2019’s NBA 2K20, MyCareer has been irrevocably tied to the game’s online services, which routinely stop being offered roughly two years into the product’s lifespan.

This means that customers are getting a relatively short lifespan out of a purchase that comes upwards of 80 Canadian dollars for its latest entry.

2K’s explanation for this is that “continuing to run online services for both our newer and legacy titles becomes commercially unfeasible,” which from a corporate perspective makes sense, but from a game design perspective, is ludicrous.

MyCareer, historically, was offered as a mode that could be played completely offline, and it was an intentional decision to over-incorporate online features into this part of play. While this has been an ongoing business practice, this year, fans are especially upset, and are directing their ire at NBA 2K.

This Tweet is one of many that expresses frustration towards the 2K franchise, which, as a whole, is not out of the ordinary. Fans of the series complain endlessly about every new game that comes out. To editorialize, the player-base of NBA 2K is in a state of near-constant unrest over updates, monetization, and perceived lack of care that the business side of the game puts into its releases.

While the incessant complaining might seem to be mere petulance (and in some cases, it is), the culture surrounding 2K is one that promotes large scale spending of real dollars for people to create virtual ballplayers, specifically in the MyCareer mode.

NBA 2K is one of its parent company, Take-Two Interactive’s, biggest moneymakers, responsible in large part for a roughly 25% increase in net revenue earlier this year, to the tune of $1.7 billion dollars.

It is a running thread in the community that NBA 2K players express frustration for the state of the game and its aggressive monetization, but follow their comments up by acknowledging that consumers are willing to pay any sum of money to play 2K, regardless of the quality of the title. And it is these types of perspectives that in part drive the type of consumer practices that Take-Two feel they’re able to get away with.

While the behaviour of Take-Two might not be different this year, the reaction from players has certainly been taken up a notch. And while a mass-movement to boycott the game, or call for some reform, could happen, it is unlikely. At this point, any competition is either defunct, in the case of NBA Live, or in a state of infancy, in the case of NBA The Run.

It’s certainly possible for some change in business practices to occur, but until there is either some serious competition, or its player-base shrinks massively, there is little hope for the NBA 2K product to improve in a meaningful sense. Fans of 2K treat the game in such a manner that there is relatively inelastic demand for its services at this point.

To paraphrase Ronald Wright, 2K getting better hasn’t happened yet because its players do not see themselves as exploited consumers, rather, as temporarily embarrassed NBA stars. Hopefully, a hard look in the mirror comes soon for the gamers.