Why 2K Sports needs College Hoops back - MHammer113's Blog

MHammer113's Blog

Why 2K Sports needs College Hoops back

Posted on February 3, 2017 at 03:40 PM.

It has been nearly ten years since College Hoops 2k8 was released for Xbox 360 and PS3. The landscape of video games and licensing has changed, but the thirst for a college basketball video game has only risen. Some would argue a college basketball game appeals to a niche audience, but I am about to prove that to be false.

A Sales Pitch?
At the end of the PS2/Xbox era ESPN College Hoops 2k5 sold 700K North American units while NCAA March Madness 2005 sold 650K. That is a total of 1.35 million units totaling an estimated $67.5 million in revenue if each game were sold at $50. Three years later, the College Hoops 2k8 only sold 270K and NCAA March Madness 08 sold 260K copies. In terms of revenue, that is $26.5 million, a sharp decline of $40 million in three years! It's not hard to understand why 2K dropped out and EA only went on to make two more lackluster versions of college basketball.

However, this begs a bigger question. Why did sales drop decline so much? I believe one reason has to do with the fact that the games became so easy to customize. I wrote a previous blog post that illustrated the incredible shelf life College Hoops 2k8 has. Still, in the year 2017, I can play with updated rosters in arenas that are largely unchanged. Oh, and by the way if the arena hasn't changed but the floor has, you can change the court. It is remarkable. But, because of this, people became less inclined to pay the additional money year after year. College games have never had the ability to add real players, so unlike a Madden of NBA 2K people don't mind have the same game since the rosters have to be changed manually anyway. Die hard college basketball junkies will always buy the game each year for the subtle updates, but I think this is part of why the college basketball video game died. Death by the double edged sword.

Madness Baby
March Madness is one of the most exciting sporting events of the entire year. Each year, people who know nothing about basketball fill out their brackets with the hope they can guess 63 games correctly. People choose winners based on anything from school colors to mascots to what the jerseys look like. One thing that cannot be argued is its ability to gather viewers. The National Championship typically averages 25 million or so viewers and the first few rounds see high viewership as well.

Promotion of the NCAA tournament starts earlier and earlier each year. The NCAA has made it clear that they will continue this moving forward, starting with the recent announcement by Dan Gavitt that starting soon they will announce the top 16 projected teams in the NCAA field. With that being said, there is no doubt 2K would be able to sell games in unison with this promotion. I'm sure many who read this have watched the NFL Playoffs this year. Madden, which has been out since August, has a strong presence on advertisements during the playoffs. There is a reason why EA Sports does this, it is because they know they can sell copies based on hype. 2K would have the opportunity to do this as well, in one of the most viewed sporting events we have here in the United States.

It's All About the Benjamin's Baby
Puff Daddy and The Family made the lyrics famous, but let's face it, companies were about this motto well before. 2K, EA, Activision, etc. are in it for the money. These companies do not want to make a game unless it is going to be profitable for them and as consumers we shouldn't blame them. It is why EA continued to make College football games instead, up until the licensing issue of course. So, if the game couldn't sell before, what makes the difference now?

The NBA 2K series is one of the most successful series in video game history. It has a massive following and continues to get some of the best reviews of any video game on the market. It has also taken advantage of technology that the PS4 and Xbox One have. Just imagine if there were an add on for NBA 2K. A college basketball add on that could be bundled with the NBA series, perhaps at a discount if purchased together. It would be promoting two products at once, and could lead to people buying two games rather than one, just because of the bundle. I think revenues would be great and I think 2K could do it rather cheaply considering the great framework they have with their basketball skeleton.

The Bottom Line
I'm a realist. I know a college basketball game is not coming back this year and likely not anytime soon, but I do know the NCAA license will make a return. When it does, I really hope 2K sees the potential of the series in a comeback. People are thirsty for a college game and don't need a new game every year. With the ability for updates to be easily put online, 2K could update arenas, commentary, and other things at the drop of hat. They could potentially even charge for these updates, something I know people would not complain about.

Someone like myself would gladly pay good money for a college hoops game and I know many others would. Hopefully one day soon we have the opportunity.

Comments

# 1 RogerDodger @ Feb 5

I might be wrong but didn't the NCAA price themselves out of the video game market. The cost of the NCAA license became prohibitive. That and the lawsuits, obviously.

# 2 MHammer113 @ Feb 5

They did, but there is likely going to be a change coming soon since the O'Bannon case had been decided. Just a matter of time and money

# 3 tril @ Feb 5

Id love to see a new College Hoops game.

I personally think a college 2k game would sell because of the popularity of the NBA series and because of the classic status of CH2k8.

In addition the expanded TV coverage and collegiate sports networks would aid in increased sales.

The only thing that college basketball doesnt have enough of is house hold names. College football does a great job of marketing its stars and programs throughout an entire season. In college hoops stars arent really made or recognized until the NCAA tournament.

# 4 Junior Moe @ Feb 6

Yes. We do need another CH. You brought up a good point sales wise. But I think it suffered because both kind of came off as throw ins. CH is still one of the most complete bball games ever but I don't think I ever saw a commercial for it or or MM, either. That's one thing. I'd see Live and NBA 2K commercials though. The games were hardly marketed and hardcore sims gamer aren't enough to support it alone. Overall, I don't think that the market warrants a new college basketball game every year.

Every few years could work. This works on a couple levels. 1. College games to me just have a longer shelf life. The game and interest in it is not driven by stars. It's about the schools, coaches, atmosphere and March Madness! I still pick up 2k8 from time to time. The graphics and engine are outdated but everything else is as good now as ever. 2. Giving a CH game 2 or 3 years to sit on the market allows it to rack up sales and microtransactions. They could update the gameplay and patch things but that's cheaper than developing and releasing a new game that will sell, at best, a fraction of what the pro game does. It's a win win I think. I imagine it would see a surge of new players after the NBA season during those dead (sports wise) spring and summers months.

Use the NBA 2K engine and tailor it for the college game. Literally copy and paste CH2K8's legacy mode. Naturally include a MYPlayer mode that allows you to continue your journey to the NBA and play online in "parks" or at certain schools. Maybe even MyTeam utilizing the NBAPA during their college days. 100% fictional roster, like 2K has in their MyCareer mode to avoid the likeness stuff. I think that would work. I know I'd be down.

# 5 thescoop @ Feb 7

I would love to see this. I even wrote a series about bringing back NCAA Football on my blog. Those ideas in working with and around licensing issue could apply here as well.

# 6 testorz @ Feb 11

I miss the college football and basketball games and still play the ones I have.

# 7 mcdowell31 @ Feb 11

"Just imagine if there were an add on for NBA 2K. A college basketball add on that could be bundled with the NBA series, perhaps at a discount if purchased together. It would be promoting two products at once, and could lead to people buying two games rather than one, just because of the bundle." ---MHAMMER113

An "app" or a "mod" perhaps? I've often thought this as well. Looking over at the Skyrim RPG community, that game remains fresh with their user created mods. Obviously that model does not work for NBA 2K, but as you're saying, if 2K distributed a company-made-mod there would be less work than a stand-alone game, which would be bigger on the bottom line business-wise. Thereafter, an updated mod might be issued 2-3 years later.

"Use the NBA 2K engine and tailor it for the college game. Literally copy and paste CH2K8's legacy mode." ---Junior Moe

Again, I've wondered why companies don't plagiarize their own work. Slightly off-topic: I think 2K could have a viable football product today if they'd listened to the OS community and produced an updated NFL 2K5. Instead they outsmarted themselves and went off-course with the Football 2K8 single season model (I liked the demo but wouldn't buy it).

Skyrim has been alive and well on the PC because of an active mod community. Recently there is a resurgence with the Skyrim remaster edition introducing some new fans to the game for the first time, and bringing new features to old fans as the mod community comes to consoles.

Sport video games should be taking note of this, and either update classics to Xbox One and PS4, or issue mods to emulate the classics. College basketball would do well.