I was so excited to see EA throw their hat back in the basketball ring. As a proud founding member of the “Live Hive,” I wanted to see them build on NBA Live 19. Knowing they would likely never return to professional baseball, this seemed the best way to do it.
And then, thanks to Matt Brown of Extra Points, we found out that they backed out of it. You might be asking, “Why did they back out?” Well, because in a way, they got a taste of their own medicine courtesy of 2K.
EA IS OUT ON COLLEGE BASKETBALL
So in Matt Brown’s piece, he posts communication from the VP of Commercial Partnerships and Licensing. The big quote there is this:
“Given there are some schools choosing to accept the 2K Sports proposal for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded.”
No one wants to compete anymore. Let’s try to force the easy thing. Because you couldn’t have something exclusive, you’re just not going to do it. It’s hard for me to feel bad for EA on this.
They created this monster. It was going to attack you at some point. And this wasn’t even down to 2K being exclusive; they just wanted to do college basketball-related DLC. And maybe a little more down the road, according to them.
But still, no exclusivity. And they would never have gotten it because it’s been 7 years since your last basketball game. What do you have to show anyone?
How I feel about the NBA2K series is irrelevant in this; the fact is that the game is a cultural touchstone at this point. College teams can tap into that for recruiting purposes. EA had no shot if they were going to push for being the only game in town. We speak of 2K in terms of Call of Duty now. People who only play 2K are often lumped into the “COD bro” label. The name matters.
Please make no mistake, it’s EA’s fault that they find themselves in the position that schools would rather go with the competition than with you. No one wants to get locked into that exclusivity deal the way the NFL did with Madden.
The NFL probably doesn’t even really want that deal; it’s just less hassle to keep it going. Eventually, that crap was going to come back to bite you. And as much as I would have liked to see a return to basketball for EA, I’m glad it went down this way. But you know what you could do? Make another NBA game.
That is, if you aren’t afraid of taking on the big boy in town.
2K IS THE PLACE TO BE FOR THESE COLLEGES, APPARENTLY
But hey, good for 2K. If that social media post holds, we may see some real deal college basketball action as soon as next year. And potentially a complete game in 2027. Maybe now we can leave the MyPlayer stories behind, right? Let’s just full Road to Glory this thing and import our college player into the NBA. No need for the extra.
More than 100 programs have locked in with 2K, and that’s more than enough for me. I ask that you relax on the monetization. Do you really want to be the game that has aggressive and damn near predatory microtransactions in a game that represents one of the most predatory sporting entities on the planet?
I don’t think you do.
The post 2K Confirms College Basketball Game in the Works Following EA’s Exit appeared first on VICE.
