The servers for NBA 2K14 are shutting down today, which comes as no big surprise given that the sports game has been out for well over a year now. Unfortunately, the shutdown of the servers comes with one nasty side effect: all player save files have been wiped along with it.
The scheduled server switch-off for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game has wiped player saves because they required online synchronization. The publisher, 2K Games, previously assured players that their saves would be intact. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game are unaffected by the issue.
The company did not warn players that their saves would be affected by the shutdown and did not make a public statement about the issue. Their only confirmation about the situation was through direct e-mails with gamers who complained about the loss of their save files.
Polygon obtained one of the e-mails from the company, which indicated that anyone wishing to keep playing the game would have to restart their career mode. There is no way to salvage the old save files.
They wrote: "This means that if you had created a MyCareer or a MyGM online save file that was once connected to our servers it too sadly has retired and is no longer available for use and it would be necessary to re-create these files as offline saves."
"Sadly this may come as an inconvenience to some of you and if so we truly do understand and can feel for how upsetting this may seem as there always is a special bond that occurs between a player and their MyCareer save but all good things must come to an end and rest assured your MyCareer or MyGM went out while on top!"
The shutdown of the NBA 2K14 servers is a lesson in how not to run a digital service.