How Should 2k Respond to Community Disappointment over Features Cuts?

[SPRINGS03]

Quote: Originally Posted by Optik

2K has a contract with the NBA to release a game every year. That's the end of it. Also, the reason sports games are never (except this year maybe) considered top tier games is because most gamers aren't avid sports fans, so it's still considered a niche genre.

Fair enough about the contract. But i disagree, the reason sports games are never considered top tier isn't because it's a niche genre(sales disprove that). I honestly believe it's because they're made yearly, meaning the quality won't be as good as games that get to take their time to iron out problems and aren't rushed. It's kinda like how COD comes out every year and doesn't really improve much. A year simply isn't enough time in most cases

Quote: Originally Posted by Csquared

Plus if 2k didn't put a game out once a year I and many others would flip!! Lol

lol, a little patience wouldn't kill you though.

[RogerBlack]

Quote: Originally Posted by Semipro91

LMFAO. Comparing a company who puts one game out every three years to a sports developer.

LMFAO. In case you haven't noticed, Ubisoft has also released numerous Assassin's Creed Titles every single year since 2007. (roughly 8-10 of 'em). So 2K is not the only video game company that puts out 'yearly' products.

Anyways, 2K is wholly-owned by Take Two Interactive... which also owns Rockstar Games (who makes Grand Theft Auto).

Better believe Take Two has enough money & resources to hire an ARMY of game developers & 3D artists to keep up with the yearly 2K NBA schedule.

So let's not act like 2K is in some "unique" position, all by themselves (in terms of deliverable schedules) as compared to other shops.

They have the resources to meet their deadlines.
And the money to HIRE more, if need be.

[GisherJohn24]

Its a showcase for the next gen. Considering the dev cycle and time frame they probably have, we should be happy there are any game modes. I think the game looks and plays so lusciously good, I sincerely don't mind the omissions right now.

[Smirkin Dirk]

This thread is devolving into a debate about the omission of features. It shouldnt be about that.

It should be about how 2K addresses the omissions to their fans.

And they havent. We have yet to hear a peep.

Like I said before, we as a community would be far more forgiving with some explanation even if it wasnt the one we want to hear

[JazzMan]

Before Leftos posted: Guys criticizing 2k.

After Leftos posted: Guys kissing his ***.

Lol

[LorenzoDC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hot Kidd

This thread is devolving into a debate about the omission of features. It shouldnt be about that. It should be about how 2K addresses the omissions to their fans. And they havent. We have yet to hear a peep. Like I said before, we as a community would be far more forgiving with some explanation even if it wasnt the one we want to hear

Yes, the thread has gotten off course.

The last thing I posted was saying Leftos' comments here were a good start, because they broke the silence. But I also said that In hoped all the conversations they're having internally in reaction to the disappointments and frustrations would lead to some real communication that's not just a one off.

No disrespect to Leftos, who is a very good guy by all accounts, but he's a new guy on the team and not very senior. He did a good thing chiming in and gave some information: he seems to imply the stripped down feature sets are due to lack of time in the rebuild. But he makes no commitments about what may or may not be possible to return in the near or longer term. He's being responsible with what he can or cannot say on behalf of 2k.

But as you say, we still need to know more and have more questions answered. The ghost of EA's epic stupidity looms over all this stuff, and people are worried about where the game is headed. Plus, they just want to love the WHOLE game, not give up fun modes and options for great on court gameplay.

I still want to see 2k do some blog posts and interviews about a bunch of questions still out there. I still think they should do it next week, though they will all be focused on Xbox One launch week and the inevitable glitches that will involve.

[King_B_Mack]

I still think guys are overreacting to ONE year of changes. All this talk about concern about the direction the game is heading off of ONE entry in the series. It's like guys suddenly act like they don't know how console transitions work. We knew this was a unique situation going into this year of sports titles because consoles were dropping this year. We knew 2K was going to be a launch title so everything changed to reflect that. The marketing was going to be different from the norm (although the way that was handled was a little ridiculous) and the game itself was going to go either one of two ways. Either it was going to be a straight port of current gen or they were going to completely switch things up.

Last launch, people questioned/criticized 2K for porting 2K6 and not going with a new engine/new foundation for the series. This time out, they brought a new engine to lay a foundation for the future while still including features, although maybe not all the ones people are used to/want. Lost in all the 'sky is falling' panic attacks are the rationale thoughts of why things happened the way they did. Did it ever occur to anybody that with the engine, meant that completely new code had to be written to incorporate some things and it's possible trying to put something in broke something else so it was left out until it could be done right and without messing up another portion of the game? Did anybody stop and think about the fact that they've been working on this game for one or two years and certain feature decisions were dictated by the hardware they're working on? For example. There's no custom arena music this time around. Why is that? Because of the console not allowing you to even play CDs on them to push their own music service. Perhaps the reason for the cloud, online connected stuff in the game has to do with the Xbox Always Online stuff that was apart of the console up until about July or August of this year? The same stuff that was rumored to be apart of the Playstation until they saw the Xbox backlash from the rumors of that being the direction Xbox was going.

I've said before and I'll continue to say. I think guys should really take a step back from the rage and overreactions and see what they do with 2K15. It's fine to make it known you aren't happy with the missing stuff, but I think acting like there's some kind of conspiracy going on and 2K is trying to completely change the game for casuals when the gameplay continues to say otherwise is crazy. If 2K15 is more feature cuts and still missing the customization we look for in this game, then I think it's all warranted. It just strikes me as off to be worried about the direction of a franchise based off one game on a new set of systems where the gameplay is even more sim than it's been in years if not ever.

[Cardot]

Quote: Originally Posted by Saturnis

A ported version with next gen graphics would have been better than this at this point. At least we would have had some better online(there's basically no online In next gen) no missing features, no missing progress or anything else that was in my career mode current gen which was taken out.

Short term, probably yes. And that seems to be the route that Madden took. But lets see how that plays out the next few years.

The first batch of games for the PS3 and 360 were stripped down. I am not sure why people are so shocked that it happened with 2K14 as well?