this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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NBA 2K25 is being delisted later this month, servers (including single-player story mode) shut down at the end of the year (www.videogameschronicle.com)
submitted 1 day ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
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[–] Malix@sopuli.xyz 2 points 8 hours ago

PGA Tour 2k[somethingoranother] got the same treatment, afaik. Once the servers went down the "campaign" AFAIK became unavailable. I believe some quickplay with stock characters is still available but even in that case the game would be a shell of it's former self.

Shame really, me and my buddy liked the private versus matches occasionally. Won't be buying a single 2k game - not that I have been purchasing any of them intentionally, gotten all of them as part of various humblebundle's.

[–] B0NK3RS@lazysoci.al 39 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm surprised ~~not really~~ that people still put up with the 2K bullshit. It's hasn't been good for over 10 years now with all the micro transactions and in-game ads :(

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Meanwhile I'm still playing NBA Courtside Featuring Kobe Bryant on the N64. NBA Street on the PS2/GameCube is still fun too.

I'll never understand why people will buy the latest NBA slop title year after year, just for an updated roster. I couldn't care less about that; I enjoy these games for the love of the sport, not the people playing it. I couldn't even name a single current star player if my life depended on it.

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 10 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

It’s probably because there is no other nba simulation available..

[–] JustPlainDave@lemmy.zip 11 points 21 hours ago

Somebody needs to bring back NBA Jam.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 0 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Isn't that just like saying there's no other company selling Starbucks® coffee?

Like yeah that's the point

[–] KRAW@linux.community 10 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

No, because there are plenty of other places to get coffee. The only competing franchise, NBA Live, stopped being made years ago. The irony is that NBA licensing isn't exclusive, so feasibly another studio could come in to create competition, but it won't happen.

[–] Zannsolo@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Pretty sure EA and 2k colluded with the NFL and NBA to make the licenses exclusive and each take one. Then they slowed gameplay improvements and tacked on the stupid money transactions and since there is no competitor to not implement those things and people who love the sports are forced to buy shit games if they want to play a game of basketball or football.

[–] KRAW@linux.community 2 points 1 hour ago

Yeah, I seriously doubt that. Again, I worked in the studio. It was well staffed and the devs were incredibly competent. Games are just more complex now and since this is a AAA game, they aim for high fidelity. The main thing they need to do is not release a game every year, but that's essentially throwing money away.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 2 points 19 hours ago

Damn I didn't realise that, that is shitty.

From the outside its easy to say vote with your wallet, but I imagine a lot of foss nerds aren't into sports, so actual sports fans get stuck between choosing shit or shittier.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Unlike American football and baseball, NBA does not have an exclusivity deal with 2K, last I heard. It's just that their competitors always made worse games, and 2K was all that survived. There isn't even an off-brand basketball game to turn to without the NBA license. If you want video game basketball, this is basically all there is.

[–] KRAW@linux.community 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

So I actually used to work on NBA2K. NBA Live used to be considered the superior game. One year, they missed their deadline and had to delay the game. This caused all the basketball fans to buy NBA2K. They all decided it was better and NBA Live never regained their lead, which lead us to today. Visual Concepts is now very adamant about never delaying the game, which is why there is a yearly crunch, devs get paid overtime, and they avoid feature creep aggressively.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Yeah, mine was more an abbreviated history. If memory serves, that one delayed NBA Live was actually cancelled after review copies went out, which only a handful of games have ever done. As I remember the likes of Jeff Gerstmann telling it, that was the exact inflection point. Though I'll admit I haven't purchased a basketball game since the N64.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 1 points 19 hours ago

Damn that is shitty.

I imagine the genre is extra starved for projects, as a lot of the nerds that would typically recreate it aren't into sports.

[–] ShutUpWesley@piefed.zip 22 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Why would a single player game need a server?

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 23 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Because fuck you, that's why.

[–] ShutUpWesley@piefed.zip 4 points 14 hours ago

Ahh, they got the PopCopy customer service orientation then

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Oh man can I give out to you about IOI and their incredible hitman game tgat requires internet to log progress!? As in unlock weapons and score yoyr performance.

Fuck IOI, I wont pay for Bond but I will play an offline copy.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

For what it's worth, the stuff gated behind the online requirement for Bond was far less of the main event than it was in Hitman. But that stuff still really bugs me, too.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

they might as well just cut to the chase and turn 2k into a subscription service.

[–] 0li0li@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you get online-only games, then it should not be a surprise to you. I think this bullshit fucking sucks, but the solution if pretty simple: do not give them money to rent games. Encourage indie devs and ignore big studios pulling this crap.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This game isn't online-only, but a mode that ought to work offline is arbitrarily tied to a premium currency that is affected by the server shutdown. Plus, the kind of person looking to play NBA2k is looking for a basketball game, not just any video game, indie or otherwise. There are no more basketball competitors, even though the NBA is one of the leagues without an exclusivity license.

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't see why they can't move to the train simulator model.

You get a new executable every year with updates, for free - but you need to pay for the Teams(trains)/players.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

This is how it was done 30 years ago, and I think they found that continuing to do it this way makes more money.

Probably the best way forward for someone to try to compete and usurp this series, which would be a tough road even with 2K continuing to shit the bed, would be to make an easily and highly moddable game that gets the sport's gameplay right from the get-go, so that players can implement their custom teams the way they want without being raked over the coals for the NBA license. There are a handful of American football games out there seeking to do that, but they've hardly made a splash compared to the (lately very poorly received) Madden titles, so a game like this would rely on enthusiasts and word of mouth.

[–] MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Dick move.

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

whats the point of this? too cheap to even keep single player around? fucking madden 17 from a decade ago still has its single player story mode

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

i think it's usually licensing issues, especially music. Or it could just be to force anyone interested in NBA 2k to buy the newer versions.

[–] toxicbubble@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

i remember buying wwe 2k19, and being hit with a loading screen everytime you click something. haven't bought a 2k game since