Is 2K Sports Fit for Survival?

**JerseySuave4** · 01-24-2012, 05:45 PM

hopefully they can survive because i don't know if i can go back to EA basketball games anymore after playing such a great basketball sim like NBA2k. And hopefully the NFL-EA exclusive rights thing ends soon and they can get into the NFL market and make a game that will either push the Madden team into making a game worth the money or surpassing them with their own game.

**LiveBaller** · 01-24-2012, 05:46 PM

They definitely have to fix the glitches and bugs with their games first. Making a massive improvement to the online experience needs to be done to keep the fans they have loyal.

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**peigone** · 01-24-2012, 05:53 PM

Odd that OS is so happy to post editorials like this one about 2K's failures, or another a couple weeks back about how EA can continue to beat up on Konami in soccer. I'll bet in a million years we'd never see a similarly critical commentary on either EA or SCEA, OS's two goldenboy devs. Kind of reminds me of the dysfunctional symbiotic relationship between schoolyard bullies and their wannabe followers.

**jersez** · 01-24-2012, 06:05 PM

I don't think so, it always comes down to money and 2ksports haven't produced the sales from other sports genres. The only way I can see it surviving is to do what 989 did and migrate to one system and developing for that console exclusively. 989 and 2k are a bit similar and they should follow that model, except of course it would be basketball and not baseball.

**pietasterp** · 01-24-2012, 06:16 PM

It's over...I'm an original 2k/Sega Sports supporter from back in the Dreamcast days (I've relayed here previously how I saw NFL2k running on DC hardware at an Electronics Boutique and immediately went in and bought one on the spot for that one game), but the way the winds are blowing, it just doesn't seem like there's a way forward. You can't fight the money and influence of EA. They win, we all lose.

**sportyguyfl31** · 01-24-2012, 06:57 PM

It's easy and lazy to play the "It's EA's fault" game.

2K has made their fair share of bad decisions and have been their own enemy as well.

They've had their chances.

Football? They had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8, and put forth a half hearted effort. The result was a self fulfilling prophesy: Excitement, followed by the realization that the game had a lot of warts, followed by 2K's half hearted attempt to patch the game, followed by a lose of interest by the community, followed by 2k abandoning the game.

They've had plenty of chances with baseball, but always produce a bug filled mess.

Eventually your mistakes are going to catch up to you.

**RaychelSnr** · 01-24-2012, 06:58 PM

Originally posted by peigone

Odd that OS is so happy to post editorials like this one about 2K's failures, or another a couple weeks back about how EA can continue to beat up on Konami in soccer. I'll bet in a million years we'd never see a similarly critical commentary on either EA or SCEA, OS's two goldenboy devs. Kind of reminds me of the dysfunctional symbiotic relationship between schoolyard bullies and their wannabe followers.

**pietasterp** · 01-24-2012, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by sportyguyfl31

It's easy and lazy to play the "It's EA's fault" game.

2K has made their fair share of bad decisions and have been their own enemy as well.

They've had their chances.

Football? They had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8, and put forth a half hearted effort. The result was a self fulfilling prophesy: Excitement, followed by the realization that the game had a lot of warts, followed by 2K's half hearted attempt to patch the game, followed by a lose of interest by the community, followed by 2k abandoning the game.

They've had plenty of chances with baseball, but always produce a bug filled mess.

Eventually your mistakes are going to catch up to you.

I understand your point, and I agree to some extent, but I think the difference is that because of EA's overwhelming dominance (financially and otherwise) in the sports game genre, all other competitors are left with very little margin for error. How many companies produce nothing but A+ games year-after-year? Of course 2k has made errors, but even when they have the better product, it doesn't necessarily make a difference in sales because of EA's sales force and marketing. And every time they produce a less-than-A+ game, they get absolutely hammered in the market and press. Meanwhile, EA can produce mediocre title after mediocre title, and their sales stay consistent because of the mass of loyal purchasers. EA can survive mediocrity; everyone else has to be superior for many years in a row before people pay attention, with no missteps along the way (NBA2k has been better than EA's hoops title for almost a decade; only in the past few years has it made a difference in sales). The barrier to break EA's grip on the genre is just too high at this point. And that's a bad thing, in my opinion.

**spankdatazz22** · 01-24-2012, 07:50 PM

I TOTALLY disagree with the "they had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8". Just like now, the community wanted the game to be everything - allow them to make a psuedo-NFL game. Or a college game. Or USFL game. Be able to adapt the rules appropriately. But make the core game compelling, since most people aren't going to take the time to customize it extensively. It was a risky project from the start; there was no sense dedicating huge sums of resources on a project with so much risk. And given Take Two's legal issues at the time with Rockstar, it didn't make much sense to be inviting litigation from the NFL trying to protect their IP. The hardcore community should've been a lot more understanding of the near-impossible situation and they weren't. And now cry about lack of choice when there's a reason no other dev is taking on making a non-licensed sports game. Really don't see how creating a game in such a limited fashion is a "wonderful opportunity".

**truintellectplaya** · 01-24-2012, 07:53 PM

Redundant topic to be nice about it, but I will jump in and add to the redundancy. Anyone that respects competition should be licking 2k's boots for what they did to make sports gaming when it comes to the most popular US sports interesting for this long. There NFL and NBA franchises extended sports gaming because I truly believe if it was EA alone people would have lost interest like I have for football sports gaming. Yes, there were others but none could ever do it like 2K and actually send the competitor running home. On the other hand, I am concern because 2K has the Buster Douglas syndrome. They are built to beat there main competitor but maybe not everyone else or most importantly themselves. I have not played on the internet in years but they should have fixed those issues by now. They should have upgraded there graphics engines long ago.

All that said, the NBA franchise is still superior and if games like Halo, The Show, etc. can get people to buy a system just to play it, NBA 2K will survive. They just need to be realistic and bring back College Hoops. I don't think it is going to lose as much as there baseball game did. Then go from there. I would suggest looking into a wrestling game also as WWE leaves a lot to be desired to many.

**stlstudios189** · 01-24-2012, 08:28 PM

wow 2k sports is my all time favorite sports developer and one by one they have fallen.

**TheTodd84** · 01-24-2012, 08:28 PM

I tend to agree with most people on here about this issue. But here is the thing... 2k was a victim of their own mistakes. When you have such a huge player like EA out there, and you are not close in terms of resources and staying power, then you have very little margin for error. Every decision you make must be a good one, or you risk losing everything. We are seeing that come to fruition today. 2k didn't make a bad decision to try and make all-pro 2k8, they just didn't put forth their best effort. And those things simply cannot happen with such little margin for error. I know it is crazy to ask them to make huge strides with nba 2k every single year, but again, with no margin for error, that has to be the case. Especially since EA will be rejoining the basketball market again soon, and if 2k slips up even a little bit, it's all over for them. Yes, that is a lot of pressure on them, but that's the nature of the beast.

The same theme can be said the for the NHL 2k series. Bad decisions followed by sub-par execution led to the demise. EA can afford, literally, to not execute well, 2k cannot. That's ultimately what did them in.

I dunno about the NCAA football licensing or the game, but 2k really does have a serious opportunity there. And again, it would be ill-advised to not try and pull out all the stops to at least garner some sort of license for a college football game. Maybe the NCAA wants it to be exclusive, I don't know. But, I did hear a rumor that NCAA 2013 may be the last iteration of the series and EA might be getting out of college football. Should that be the case, then 2k would be stupid to not try and take advantage.

Anyway, you get my point. When you have little margin for error, mistakes are magnified, ask any double-digit underdog in sports in a big game.

**LiveBaller** · 01-24-2012, 09:12 PM

To be honest it might be best that 2ksports only does have 1 or 2 games to develop in a year. If NFL 2k was still around do you think NBA 2k would be as good as it is today? NBA didn't get good until the developers for NFL came over. Why other marquee title do they have in there lineup now besides NBA?

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**patrashoe** · 01-24-2012, 09:12 PM

yes ! 2k is mlb2k12 commettre une erreur

**cheo25** · 01-24-2012, 09:19 PM

Maybe if they didn't make bug-filled games like NBA2K12 that repeatedly freeze their future wouldn;'t be in doubt.

Is 2K Sports Fit for Survival?

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