Monday Tip-Off: The Predictable Fate of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on how the fate of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 was predictable.
In late February, 2K announced that online support for NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 will end on August 20th, 2026. While server shutdowns are always unfortunate, it should be noted that by then, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 will have been supported for close to eight years; far longer than the 27 months that 2K guarantees for all of its titles. The game’s popularity has also been waning for years, with the Steam version currently averaging less than 20 players per day. As is the case with all games as their userbase dwindles, at a certain point it’s basically impossible to justify ongoing support.
To that end, I can’t fault 2K for deciding to pull the plug on Playgrounds 2 come August. I’m actually surprised that it took this long, and not just because of their 27-month guaranteed support policy. Enthusiasm for NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 began to evaporate around 2020, when it became clear that it wouldn’t receive any further updates in terms of content or significant patches. As a result, it ultimately failed to achieve any enduring popularity, making the continued online support unusually generous. Of course, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 being something of a flop that reduced the chances of any more Playgrounds games was sadly a rather predictable fate.
Let me say right out of the gate that I’m not laying blame completely at 2K’s feet. It’s easy to paint them as another big publisher messing up a good thing by a small studio, or make the conspiratorial suggestion that it was done deliberately to eliminate any competing basketball video games. I believe there’s some merit to those statements, and I will dive into that. However, when it comes down to it, I can’t absolve Saber Interactive of any blame for NBA Playgrounds not becoming a series, or being more successful in general. As the studio that developed NBA Playgrounds and NBA 2K Playgrounds 2, the design choices and overall quality of the games are on them.
That brings me to the chief cause of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2’s predictable fate. To be blunt, neither it nor the original NBA Playgrounds were good enough. That’s not to say they’re terrible games. They’re solid with some good ideas, and I’ve been able to enjoy them for what they are. Neither of them came close to the quality of the best NBA Jam and NBA Street titles, though. From a slow pace that left you wishing that sprint lasted longer, to power-ups that didn’t make the gameplay more exciting, to sim mechanics such as a shot meter, they bungled some key staples of arcade basketball video games. The grindy approach to unlocking the entire roster didn’t help, either.
Some of these issues were excusable in the first Playgrounds. It was a brand new game that was trying to innovate, while also taking inspiration from NBA Jam and NBA Street. For a studio’s very first basketball title, it turned out respectably well. Critical reception was mixed from gamers and publications alike, but it ended up selling 500,000 copies within a couple of months of its release, and people were enjoying it. Even those of us who were critical of it acknowledged its potential, and were glad to see another studio enter the basketball gaming space. Saber indicated plans to release sequels, which carried the promise of building upon what they had.
Unfortunately, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 failed to do that; at least to the extent that it needed to. It added some depth with a Season mode and online tournaments, and the gameplay received some polish. The partnership with 2K paid off as far as getting Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into the rosters. Still, for the most part, it was the same game. Granted, we can say that many basketball games are very similar to their immediate predecessors, but NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 needed to be a much bigger improvement than it was. Reviewers thus labelled it a “lacklustre effort” and “disappointing”, and even went so far as to call it an “unnecessary sequel”.
I don’t agree with it being “unnecessary” because there was room for improvement and interest was definitely there, but as a sequel, it falls short of classics such as NBA Jam Tournament Edition and NBA Street Vol. 2. Although NBA Jam TE could be called an enhanced version rather than a true sequel – not unlike the various editions of Street Fighter II – it was a worthy follow-up that retained the superb gameplay of the original NBA Jam, while adding some great new features. Likewise, NBA Street Vol. 2 met the expectations its predecessor set for gameplay, while expanding upon modes and content. It’s no surprise that they inspired sequels, and still hold up today.
Conversely, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 wasn’t widely hailed as a great follow-up that was paving the way for Playgrounds to become an ongoing series. That’s not to say there wasn’t any interest in that, because NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 did initially have a dedicated community that enjoyed it and was optimistic for the future. Once again though, it simply wasn’t good enough to achieve the enduring popularity of landmark games like NBA Jam TE and NBA Street Vol. 2. Over time, even ardent supporters began to lose their interest and optimism. The official Facebook group became a ghost town, aside from off-topic spam posts from NBA 2K modders and content creators.
It certainly didn’t help that the game’s most enthusiastic supporters weren’t rewarded for their loyalty. Despite Saber’s talk of long-term support, further sequels, and other opportunities that their new partnership with 2K would facilitate, those plans never came to fruition. The last major content update came in October 2019 ahead of the new season, though players like Luka Doncic and the newly-drafted Zion Williamson were still absent. This initially invited hopeful speculation that a third game was in the works, but it soon became clear that Saber were quietly moving on to other projects. Whatever enthusiasm remained for NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 rapidly began to wane.
Saber’s failure to develop a better follow-up to a game that was flawed but still had potential, followed by their decision to wash their hands of it after hinting at some long-term plans for the Playgrounds brand, were the main factors in dooming NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 to its fate. Even though 2K shares blame for their involvement, again, Saber Interactive was the developer. They also chose to partner with 2K when the opportunity arose. The groundwork had been laid when Matthew Karch met with NBA 2K reps to show Saber’s game wasn’t trying to compete with theirs; as if that wasn’t allowed! When Playgrounds sold well, 2K was on board to publish the sequel.
As I noted, that partnership did benefit NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 in some ways. The ability to license MJ, Kobe, and Kareem was huge. 2K was able to help out with online support, which again has ended up lasting for almost eight years. Needless to say, partnering with a big publisher meant more exposure and lent the game a certain amount of credibility. Of course, there were also drawbacks. The first was the rather awkward insertion of 2K into the game’s title. It’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but as I lamented all those years ago, it turned out to be sign that 2K was poised to leave their fingerprints on Saber’s game in the worst way imaginable.
The same greed that had really begun to ramp up in NBA 2K was now an issue in NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 as well. Admittedly, when the first NBA Playgrounds was being developed, Matthew Karch didn’t rule out the possibility of paid DLC or even microtransactions. He indicated it wasn’t a priority though, and to that point, the game did receive some free content updates. When the Hot ‘N Frosty DLC was released, it wasn’t too controversial as it was a significant content update that was priced fairly; especially with NBA Playgrounds being a cheaper release to begin with. The paid Roster Unlock was also something that gamers had asked for, so it wasn’t an issue.
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 didn’t have that same sense of goodwill, though. First of all, there was a price increase. Second, a premium currency – Golden Bucks – was added. Golden Bucks weren’t necessary to build your roster, but they were used to purchase the Roster Unlock. Cosmetic items – and most egregiously, items for the custom court creator – could only be purchased with Golden Bucks. Although they could be earned by performing in-game tasks, the payouts were pitiful. The pack odds were also worse than the first game, nudging you towards either buying them in bulk, or opting for the Roster Unlock. Upgrading all of the players you collected was an even bigger grind.
It was the kind of soulless, shameless, big corporation greed that many of us feared was coming when we learned that Saber Interactive was partnering with Take-Two. A significant jump in the game’s quality might’ve made this slightly easier to stomach, but instead, a somewhat disappointing sequel was trying to squeeze extra revenue out of a fanbase that had loyally supported a fledgling title. It seems quite likely that 2K was calling the shots when it came to the implementation of Golden Bucks, and the longer, harder grind. What had seemingly begun as an earnest attempt to revive the arcade basketball genre was now an underwhelming cash grab under 2K’s umbrella.
Naturally, this is where the conspiracy theories come in. Considering the way that Saber were seemingly made to bend the knee, crossing their heart and promising they weren’t trying to compete with NBA 2K, it doesn’t seem unfathomable that Take-Two brought NBA Playgrounds into the fold so that it could be quietly squashed. Their response to EA’s plans for a college basketball game last year is a prime example of their eagerness to maintain a monopoly over the genre without any exclusive deals. By adding NBA Playgrounds to the 2K family, they’d either have another successful game under their brand, or they’d eliminate a competitor. That’s a win-win scenario!
With that being said, I don’t fully buy this idea. I have no doubt that 2K were eager to benefit from the partnership and wield influence over a new basketball video game that had generated some buzz, but I’m sceptical that there was any deliberate attempt at sabotage. I’m inclined to believe 2K wanted the game to succeed – that’d be good for their bottom line, after all – and that both they and Saber Interactive would’ve been open to another sequel if NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 had turned out better. Sure, saddling the game with the greediest aspects of NBA 2K didn’t help, but I’d suggest that was just arrogantly pushing for more revenue, rather than deliberately setting it up to fail.
Of course, while it may not have been the intention, it didn’t help. Still, the biggest factor in the predictable fate of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 was the quality of the game itself. It failed to learn from the shortcomings of its predecessor, maintaining the same slow pace and retaining ill-suited shooting mechanics. It ignored the design principles that made NBA Jam and NBA Street so successful, under the guise of “we’re trying something new”. They listened to the gamers who shouted down valid criticism, and the result was another pale imitation of NBA Jam with a few trappings of NBA Street thrown in. Several NBA Jam clones back in the 90s had made some similar mistakes.
And so, while the fate of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is disappointing, it was predictable. A lot of people didn’t want to see that in 2018 – understandably so, given the desire for more hoops titles – but the writing was on the wall. Between mediocre gameplay, poor design choices, and greed, it’s no surprise that NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 has been largely forgotten and abandoned as its server shutdown looms. It’s unfortunate, and it overshadows the modest success of both games. The red flags were there though, and those of us who saw them were critical because we cared, not because we wanted to see NBA Playgrounds fail. Sadly, when you look at the big picture, it was inevitable.
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