Sports games are one of the genres in the video game industry that can be both easy to make and yet difficult to maintain over the years. It can be easy to make because the game is simply recreating the sport of basketball, which, by this point, has been done in various ways across gaming generations. You can get people to try it out as long as you keep things looking good and playing as they should. But the more titles you make of the sport, the harder it is to keep players coming back, as NBA 2K24 is finding out the hard way.
The title promised numerous things to players across all platforms, including honoring the late Kobe Bryant and improving the looks and feel of the players based on new technology. However, if you want to get NBA 2K24, you might want to steer clear of the PC/Steam version. If you go to the Steam page, you’ll immediately notice that the game has almost 3,000 player reviews and that almost all speak negatively about the title. In fact, the game has an “Overwhelmingly Negative” aggregate. Furthermore, it’s the second worst-rated video game ever on the platform! It takes a lot of hate to get that rating.
But what exactly are they saying? Simply put, the PC version doesn’t match up to the “new gen” versions with the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The graphics were stated as looking “cheap,” and the animations felt the same as previous versions despite the promises of something fresh and “more accurate to the players.” Furthermore, there’s apparently a lot of cheating going on in the title, which is never a good thing. You also can’t do cross-play with other systems.
All of that is bad, but it’s important to note that the other game versions aren’t doing well either in the praise department. Many reviews condemn the game for some of the player complaints stated, but also because of the terrible microtransaction system. The game is overflowing with the need to buy things within the game to make yourself competitive. Some reviews even said you can’t play online against other players without “cracking open your wallet to get on their level.” That betrays the essence of what a video game is supposed to be, not to mention the essence of basketball.
What 2K does next is anyone’s guess, but players aren’t happy, and this could seriously affect sales of the title.
