How 2K Sports Rights the Ship - Valdarez's Blog

Valdarez's Blog

How 2K Sports Rights the Ship

Posted on December 19, 2009 at 01:26 PM.

MMChrisS recently blogged on 2K Sports: The Inevitable Demise. While I agreed with his assessment of the problems facing the company, I do believe all is not lost and the ship can be righted if bold steps are taken to salvage what is there and chart a path for the future.

It's been some bad news over the last couple of years at 2K Sports, that's for sure. All Pro Football 2K8 had weak sales, Prize Fighter was knocked out of the ring, MLB Front Office Manager was a no hitter, MLB lost out to The Show, and even the Bigs 2 didn't live up to expectations (which were not surprisingly a tad too high). The only bright spot for the company has been NBA 2K10, and even it took a black eye this year due to all of the bugs in the game at release.

During the problems over the last two years, what we have witnessed is a consistent and reoccurring problem with quality control, and this has been a systemic problem with company wide / product wide implications. I've never delved into the QA approach of 2K Sports, but there's no denying now that the inability to identify and solve bugs prior to launch of the games has virtually sunk their product line and ruined the cache of the 2K Sports name.

I'm not a product manager, but I have a strong background in software development. Roughly a couple of years back, I spent 9 months working with the ViPs and Product Management of a fairly large company with the goal of aligning strategic desires with technical capabilities (portfolio management). With my background in mind, here's what I would suggest if I were engaged with 2K Sports from a professional standpoint.

Keep NHL on Life Support for a year, possibly two with Roster Updates + small Patch (DLC).
Transition Resources from NHL team first to NBA 2K11 & MLB10 to shore them up and make sure they are the best they can be, with a focus on NBA 2K11 since it's the cash cow at this point.
Create relationship with BackBreaker team and partner to create 100% customizable football game.
Invest small amount of $$$ into a DLC sports genre to be featured on XBox Live, PS3 Marketplace, Wii, and handheld devices (DS, PSP). (Games to focus on fun, not 'sim', to be 100% fictional, and not require actual sports licenses)

With this approach you achieve the following:

shore up the company's strengths, protecting the cash cow (no risk)
keep NHL as a possibility down the road without angering fans in the process (very low to no risk)
invest in a low cost / high yield cross cutting sports genre franchise with possibility of immediate results if executed upon properly (low risk)
invest in the #1 under-tapped sports market in sports gaming (football) with very little cost / risk due to no licensing fees with possibility of two year payoff (medium risk)

MMChrisS suggested there was a train wreck in progress, but I believe it has already occurred at 2K Sports, and we are now slowly witnessing the aftereffects. The question now isn't whether the wreck can be avoided, but what can be salvaged. Without a complete product strategy revamp focusing on basic SWOT analysis (I learned this in college it's so basic) then I don't see how the company can effectively get on the right track. At best we'll see a one, possibly two product company in the near future, and at worst, we'll see the 2K Sports brand sold to EA Sports who will promptly rebrand or kill the 2K Sports titles whose game play we have so admired over the years.

Let's hope that someone with Vision can step in, or step up, at 2K Sports to address the lack of quality control in addition to effectively charting a successful future for the company.