"I think from a promotional aspect and [...] messaging, what you see from us — we really wanted to not, kind of, be full of ****. And we wanted to be humble, contrite. We came out and just said, 'Hey, we know we've screwed up the last three years; we're going to do the best we can to earn back your trust,'" said Ferwerda.
Gameplay designer Scott O'Gallagher agreed, telling us, "More of the controlled messaging has been really good for us, and good for the community. I think us saying anything other than that is really disrespectful to 2K. They've done a good job for so long [...] and just saying that we're going to do this and do that and stomp... it just doesn't make any sense."
That's encouraging to hear from the makers of a franchise whose previous, canceled incarnations were promoted with obnoxious bravado along the lines of "profoundly [evolving] the basketball experience." To be sure, EA Tiburon is confident in the game it's delivering next week, but the studio believes it's a first step — "while we're proud of what we [are releasing], we're not satisfied," said Ferwerda, "and where we're moving toward is kind of what motivates us and keeps us going."
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