2K16 Marketing Affect On You

[AJenius06]

I was just thinking... I remember the days when gameplay for the upcoming 2K title was shown around the Finals or a few weeks after. Or the months leading up to the game release we would see a bulk of information about upgrades and other major details.


This time around, the process has been elongated. And I can't even lie. It's working.


The announcement of being able to play college ball, Pro Am, Franchise mode additions -- all of that being stretched out leading up, just weeks before the release -- has totally drawn me in. Nerve-wrecking, in a sense.


Just wondering if you guys like, love or hate how 2K has handled it's marketing this year and if it's made you more interested in the game or frustrated you even more -- I'm interested to know!?

[jayman504]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

To be Honest I plan on getting the game regardless, BUT seeing gameplay wouldn't hurt either. I remember in the past watching gameplay vids at least 10x in a row to spot all that I can.

[Norris_Cole]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

It has exactly the opposite effect on me.

I think the gameplay has serious legacy issues that need to be addressed since years.

Not seeing/hearing absolutely anything about gameplay with less than a month until the relase (not even gamescom videos this year) , leads me to believe that gameplay has been overlooked again this year because they rather focus on things like spike lee or Stephen Curry chewing his mouthguard.

Unless they surprise us with a bomb like a new real time physics engine or a new AI system or something that finally pushes the gameplay to the next level, I'm not going to buy the game again.

This is actually going to be the 1st year that I skip the game since the 1st one on the dreamcast came out , unless they finally improve gameplay drastically.

[Vni]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I really don't care about the way they market the game. Makes no difference to me that I make my opinion on the game now or in two weeks when anyway I will only be able to buy it in a month. I'd like to have more gameplay info at this point but it is what it is.

[eko718]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I find it annoying if anything.

[2k gamer all day]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I'm disappointed this year. Check out nba 2k15 news from last year and than 2k16 news + don't forget the game comes also 11 days earlier. Ronnie2k said we get every single day news in August and sept "but we don't get" .. We got many screenshots but not much about the game, "New little Features" .. Ronnie2k give every day PD for MYTeam "2k15" but 2k16 is just 24 days away !! Why they do that ? I'm not hyped at all for this game and i have also not preorder yet ..

[redsox4evur]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

It has exactly the opposite effect on me.

I think the gameplay has serious legacy issues that need to be addressed since years.

Not seeing/hearing absolutely anything about gameplay with less than a month until the relase (not even gamescom videos this year) , leads me to believe that gameplay has been overlooked again this year because they rather focus on things like spike lee or Stephen Curry chewing his mouthguard.

Unless they surprise us with a bomb like a new real time physics engine or a new AI system or something that finally pushes the gameplay to the next level, I'm not going to buy the game again.

This is actually going to be the 1st year that I skip the game since the 1st one on the dreamcast came out , unless they finally improve gameplay drastically.

Really hard to get videos of a game that wasn't at the event... Also on the next part of that statement the stuff about Spike Lee and Steph's mouthguard. The 3 have NOTHING to do with each other. There are multiple departments that work on this game, like gameplay, art, story, rosters, MyTeam, MyLEAGUE, MyGM (maybe but probably the same department as MyLEAGUE), etc. The gameplay department doesn't have anything to do with getting Steph Curry's mouthguard or a Spike Lee story.

[aholbert32]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I'm disappointed this year. Check out nba 2k15 news from last year and than 2k16 news + don't forget the game comes also 11 days earlier. Ronnie2k said we get every single day news in August and sept "but we don't get" .. We got many screenshots but not much about the game, "New little Features" .. Ronnie2k give every day PD for MYTeam "2k15" but 2k16 is just 24 days away !! Why they do that ? I'm not hyped at all for this game and i have also not preorder yet ..

Huh? There was a huge blog about all of the changes they made to My League and My GM. The announcement of 2k Pro Am and several classic teams announced. How is that "little features"?

[redsox4evur]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

Huh? There was a huge blog about all of the changes they made to My League and My GM. The announcement of 2k Pro Am and several classic teams announced. How is that "little features"?

Yea I'm going to compare it to Madden. There were a ton of changes to the game made this year like new scouting system, penalties, Draft Champions, scouting combine results, etc . Do you like them? Maybe or maybe not. But the changes were made. Back to 2K, also if a brand new online mode (Pro-Am), relocation/rebranding/etc are small features then I would love to know: what is a new big feature?

[Mhya4Short23]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

Well when you think about it most people are gonna get the game anyway just because 2k has been the only playable game on the market for awhile now.

[Halloween]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I remember they released cpu vs cpu gameplay vids a couple years back prior to release.
Only thing that bugs me about 2ks marketing is that they don't do this anymore.

I'm into gameplay and authenticity, so Curry chewing his mouthguard is fine as some early news footage but we're 3 weeks away from release and I don't know anything about what really interests me.

I'll buy the game regardless (only skipped 2k12 since 06) but the waiting game on gameplay actually IS annoying.

[24ct]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

Bottom line it's marketing for casuals not hardcore fans. On top of that like someone said, it's been the only playable NBA for about 3/4 years now so they have the luxury of knowing ppl have to purchase if they like hoops.

Not to mention the VC costing physical money allows them to not even worry so much about sales because they probably recoup triple the profits from that alone. I know some guy who has spent over $600 on vc playing my team. That was just in 2k14. If everyone or even a third of purchasers get half of that, that's like 2 years worth of 2ks in profit lol.

Saying that, I think the way they market this game is horrible. If I wasn't an avid gamer I wouldn't know anything about it. If I haven't played since the 1st 2k, I wouldn't know anything about it. The only reason I know about the game is because I'm technically savvy & I actually go looking for information. I'm not looking because 2ks marketing is making me clamor for information. I'm looking because that's personally what I do with everything I have interest in.

The marketing for 2k is pretty bad and has gotten worse this year. Some guy here wS saying the marketing is working because we're all on the edge of our seats but it's actually the exact opposite. Everyone here is more than just a casual player. We're on a forum for sports gaming. So we like sports. Good marketing is when a company can keep it's costumers excited about the release. Most ppl here are not excited, we just know it's coming out soon because we play.

An example of good marketing are big budget movies. They release trailers all summer for movies coming in the winter. Sometimes even summer next year. Just to build hype. They don't wait til the movie is 2 weeks away and send out massive previews. Examples of this include Suicide Squad. There were previews at comic con etc. I don't even know when it's coming out. I don't even really want to see it but they built hype for it already. An example of bad marketing is Mad Max. Heck even Metal Gear Solid. Both come out the same day and I didn't know mad max was being released the same day.

But all in all this is the age we live in. Aside from games like COD & Destiny there's no big marketing techniques being used anymore. But I remember getting a game informer magazine with a Destiny cover story about 2 years before it came out. 2K used to do big cover stories but at this point there honestly isn't much to show. The gameplay engine is the same with the cartoonish looking graphics so what is there to really show? There are no big advances in the game to market which is the real bottom line here.

[Clappington]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

I dislike how they wait till last min to tell everything but thats whatever... what I hate the most is the fact when they drop information on certain things they never go into details when we have like multiple questions...they drop Pro-am trailer answer very few questions and they always say "we will get into that later" same thing with MyTeam drop some info but say they cant go into full details yet.. then when they try to cram everything into last couple weeks before release they always say they didnt have enough time to talk about something its so stupid honestly and idk if im allowed to say it but it needs to be said.

[23]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

It's about time you guys stop trying to seperate the fans with this nonsense categorical stuff.

Everyone pays the same amount of money for NBA 2K no matter what you prefer to play the most, this stuff is silly.

People just want to see the devs work, that's all. It's not Ronnie name dropping or LD2Ks endless gifs that make you want the game, it's their track record of making one of the best sports games on the market, bugs and all.

I certainly am not a fan of the slow drip marketing but I believe they said on the stream, some more info will be out this week and not just screenshots, so this is bad timing.

They also said 2K would be hands on at the Vegas event this week.

[lvnba]

Re: 2K16 Marketing Affect On You

August is a hell no matter what they do. No 2k, no NBA, no nothing