There's no doubt that 2K Sports has been on a steady decline this generation.

Buying up the MLB license was definitely a major mistake on their part. I can't help but feel like it was a reactionary move against EA buying up all the football licenses, but the fact is, baseball games just don't carry the muscle at retail that they used to -- especially not compared to retail giants like NCAA and Madden.

I think the only thing that could save them right now is if they somehow found a way to sneak back into the football market, because it's the only genre where their gameplay still has a clear edge over the competition.

Everywhere else they are either close to even or lagging behind, and that's simply not good enough when 2K doesn't market their games like the other companies do.

How does their football game have a clear edge over the competition when they have one lackluster game release under its current generation belt?

I think you missed the key word in that sentence:

"...their gameplay has a clear edge over the competition."

If they improved the rest of the package, I think 2K could definitely get back into the football market, because their gameplay engine is still way ahead of NCAA/Madden in a lot of major areas like line play, AI, animations, etc.

This is bad news for any sports gamer.

I will never understand why they didnt just continue to build and make AllPro Football a viable option to Madden..The gameplay was there ..all it needed was some deep custmization, Next gen graphics, and a franchise mode...As long as 2K continues to make great basketball games I will be happy..But the door is open for All Pro just put some resources into it..

Its time to bury the 2k dinosaur once and for all! Their best bet would be to relaunch all pro, annually on the playstation 2. In my opinion high development cost prevents them from making a great game on PS3.

It's a shame because I honestly feel like EA's hockey game is becoming stagnate even *with* competition now that they're on top. I can't imagine what's going to happen when 2k's gone.

if the nba game ever goes away, i'm done with sports games

I wonder if another major publisher will end up buying out Visual Concepts and Take 2's sports licenses if only to further their own interest in the sports gaming market. Activision or UbiSoft may be willing to put some money into the genre if only to further their own interests. However, these companies may scoff at sports titles because they won't sell like AAA titles.

My point is...we need at least one other company making legitimate sports titles on the market. Because without competition, EA Sports will be more complacent than they've ever been, and I'm not looking forward to anything like that.

It's been some bad news over the years at 2K Sports, that's for sure. All Pro Football 2K8 had weak sales, Prize Fighter lost the fight, MLB Front Office Manager was a no hitter, MLB lost out to The Show, and even the Bigs 2 didn't live up to expectations (which might have been a tad too high). The only bright spot has been NBA 2K10 and it took a black eye due to all of the bugs in the game at release.

A repeatable problem has been quality control, and this has been a company wide / product wide problem. I've never delved into the QA approach of 2K Sports, but there's no denying at this point there's a systemic problem that has virtually sunk their product line.

At this point, I would cut my losses. I have a background in software development, and spent a year working with Product Management a year ago (aligning strategic desires with technical capabilities). Here's what I would do if I were head of 2K Sports.

1. Keep NHL on Life Support for a year, possibly two with Roster Updates + small Patch (DLC).
2. Transition Resources from NHL team first to NBA 2K11 & MLB10 to shore them up and make sure they are the best they can be, with a focus on NBA 2K11 since it's the cash cow at this point.
3. Create relationship with BackBreaker team and partner to create 100% customizable football game.
4. Invest small amount of $$$ into a DLC sports genre to be featured on XBox Live, PS3 Marketplace, Wii, and handheld devices (DS, PSP). (Games to focus on fun, not 'sim', to be 100% fictional, and not require actual sports licenses)

With this approach you achieve the following:

o shore up the company's strengths, protecting the cash cow
o keep NHL as a possibility down the road without angering fans in the process
o invest in a low cost / high yield cross cutting sports genre franchise with possibility of immediate results if executed upon properly
o invest in the #1 under-tapped sports market in sports gaming (football) with very little cost / risk due to no licensing fees with possibility of two year payoff

The train wreck isn't in progress, it's already occurred at 2K Sports, and now we are slowly witnessing the aftereffects. The question now isn't whether the wreck can be avoided, but what can be salvaged. Without a complete product strategy revamp focusing on basic SWOT analysis (I learned this in college it's so basic) then I don't see how the company can effectively get on the right track. At best we'll see a 1, possibly 2 product company in the near future, and at worst, we'll see the 2K Sports brand sold to EA Sports, who will promptly rebrand or kill the 2K titles whose game play we have so admired over the years.

I actually thought about this after they completed their circle of sports games, this year. MLB 2K9 was thoroughly trashed across the board with specs of the 2K faithful still trying to argues their cases against MLB 09:The Show (some people just never let go *ahem*). Then came NBA2K10 which they completely lost me on after purchasing every NBA2K game, except 2K7, which shows NO real innovation and cleanup in gameplay after all this time. If it weren't for Live 10 with such a strong showing, 2KSports may have kept me in their pocket but I was already growing weary of the game's staleness yet would have just bought 2K10 just to have a b-ball game this year. Unfortunately, I will not be purchasing another NBA2K because of what Live 10 has done and I expect even better, next year, and I believe that if EA attacks the animation issues and even makes the graphics "more realistic" looking ala NBA2K10 or better, 2KSports better duck. That little diatribe about EA Sports and Live 10 from whoever that 2KSports employee was showed me that they were DAMN SCARED of what Live 10 turned out to be and they should be even MORE afraid of Live 11.

As for NHL2K, I keep hearing how it just cannot compare to the NHL series after being a reigning champ prior to NHL 07, I think it was. Even I liked the NHL series more once they came up with the right stick usage yet I'm not a big hockey person but did go 'hard' back in the Genesis to some of the PS2 days with it.

It just seems to me that 2KSports was really bringing it and may have gotten comfortable to the point of lack of the "right kind of innovation" that would keep and grow their consumer base. I can't really say exactly what has been their problem as an overall but I myself see that for me, personally, just an over attentativeness to graphical detail and animations just isn't enough, anymore. To me, you can only do that for so long and when I look at the NBA2K series, I just see more of the same thing they have done for years and nothing new to make the series feel fresh. Look for that series demise on the horizon, as well, unless they can outdo what EA is doing with Live's GAMEPLAY and not just a ton of new animations and prettier graphics. That shot stick and iso-motion doesn't make me feel like I'm playing basketball. I strongly suggest they utilize a dribble stick and maybe they can at least pull be back in.

Well who knows what is going on but it is sad to see. Maybe they are moving the NHL people to work on MLB to make a better game. They have a lot of money spent on the license and maybe they are rededicating to make a stronger game. MLB has much greater sales potential than NHL even though I love a good hockey game.

It would be great if 2k teamed up with NM and just decided to take a extra year development cycle to revive these games. It would be awesome of 2k was holding a secret and working on NM college hoops (yeah pipe dream)

I don't know what I'm going to play if the NBA 2k series shuts down. I still do play ESPN NFL 2k5 from time to time only because the community keeps creating current, and classic rosters.

I would have loved to see them build All Pro football, but they scrapped that after one year. I am bored with all EA next gen football and basketball games after a few months. I am never bored with 2k's football and basketball games.

I think 2k sports has become impatient and frankly a little bit jaded.

What they need to do is bring back all-pro football. Simple as that. Stop devoting their resources to sports no one watches anymore, like baseball and making games like the bigs 2 that are complete wastes of resources and time.

Devote their product line to maybe two or three games. NBA 2k, A new, fully customizable football game, whether or not that goes in line w/ backbreaker, and one other viable sports title. Maybe make nice w/ the NCAA and get a college basketball game back.

But I agree with a lot of what people have said on here. But I think the MOST important thing for them to do is to focus on a FOOTBALL game. I know all-pro didn't sell well, but that's because it was basically NFL 2k5 ported to the next-gen systems with bad graphics and no NFL license. And yes, the gameplay was awesome, but there was little replay value. They also didn't give all-pro a chance. One bad sales year is not a reason to scrap a game. If they would have put more resources into the game and had new and incredible graphics w/ a similar gameplay engine to 2k5 w/ a little less "over-momentum" than they had in all-pro, they could have an unbelievable product, with full customization of course.

But I think for 2k to stay alive, they absolutely must focus on a football game, and their NBA series

@TheTodd84
All Pro Football has little replay value? My 1500+ games say otherwise.