Is 2K Sports Fit for Survival?

Feature Article

Submitted on: 01/24/2012 by Thomas Surovy

2K Sports has survived in the shadow of industry leader EA Sports since its origin as a developer of games for the Sega Dreamcast. Over the years, 2K Sports has produced some highly regarded sports games, including its NBA 2K series, NFL 2K5 and College Hoops 2K8. With the exception of the NBA 2K series, the sales figures for 2K Sports have not matched those of EA Sports. Since 2K has discontinued a handful of their titles, and the low sales of NBA 2K12, sports gamers are beginning to wonder how much longer the company's window will stay open.

We’ll take a look at each sport and where 2K Sports stands at the moment and my outlook for the developer based on that analysis.

NBA 2K is the final stronghold for 2K Sports.

NBA 2K

The NBA 2K basketball series is far and away 2K Sports’ most successful franchise. Its success led to the demise of its competitor NBA Live and a two-year break from releasing NBA games by EA Sports. NBA 2K11 was a tremendous success, spending nine consecutive months among the top-10 best-selling video games. 2K Sports was not able to replicate that success with its follow-up, NBA 2K12, as the game was only in the top-10 for one month. While some of the blame can be placed on the NBA lockout,NBA 2K12 didn’t provide the next step in NBA gaming that many were expecting. The NBA’s Greatest Mode was a welcomed new feature, but it didn’t generate the excitement that NBA 2K11 provided with the addition of Michael Jordan and his greatest games.

2K Sports’ monopoly on the NBA simulation market is expected to be broken in 2012 with the release of EA Sports’ unnamed NBA franchise. EA definitely has some work to do to regain the trust of NBA gamers after the complete failure of the first NBA Elite demo, but the mere presence of a competing game has to the NBA 2K team. The future of the franchise could depend on whether 2K13 represents a big step forward like 2K11, or a modest one like 2K12.

College Hoops 2K

2K Sports’ College Hoops 2K8 ranks among the most beloved games here at Operation Sports, and many sim gamers would welcome its return with open arms and wallets. However, the series did not produce the sales numbers to justify the expensive cost of the NCAA license, which is why the franchise has been dormant ever since. The college basketball market is not as lucrative as the NBA, as even EA Sports has been absent from the NCAA basketball market for the past two seasons.

In a previous article, I suggested that a later release date, further from the NBA 2K release and closer to March Madness, could help sales of the College Hoops series. If the developers were able to build on the strong foundation that they created with College Hoops 2K8, there would be an opportunity for 2K Sports to strengthen its hold in the basketball gaming market. Unfortunately, 2K Sports has given no indication that they are willing to jump back into the college basketball gaming market again.

MLB 2K12 might be the swan song of the series if prior comments by Take Two brass say anything.

MLB 2K

After EA Sports secured a third-party exclusive license with the NFL in 2004, 2K Sports obtained its own exclusive third-party license with Major League Baseball the following year. The arrangement has been a disappointment to both 2K Sports and baseball gamers. Sales figures have been disappointing even with MLB 2K being the only MLB simulation available for Xbox 360. On the Playstation 3, Sony’s MLB: The Show series dominates the market in sales. The MLB 2K series has been plagued with gameplay issues that really hurt the series’ reputation among gamers. While the more recent versions of the series have improved on those issues, the damage to the series has been done.

2K Sports’ exclusive third-party license runs out in 2012, and Take-Two executives have suggested that the company will get out of the baseball market unless the terms of the next contract are more favorable. With EA Sports and their highly-regarded MVP Baseball series waiting to get back in the baseball market, MLB 2K12 will very likely be the last game in the series and represent another defunct series in the 2K Sports family.

2K Sports also utilized the MLB License to develop other baseball games like The Bigs and Front Office Manager. The Bigs is an arcade-style of baseball with over-the-top features while Front Office Manager was a sports management simulation. The Bigs series has been generally well-received, and The Bigs 3 is scheduled for release in 2012. However, 2K Sports’ relationship with MLB after 2012 will probably determine that franchise’s future. Front Office Manager was tagged by most critics as a broken game and 2K Sports’ effort to draw fans of text-based simulations like Out of the Park Baseball was viewed as a complete failure.

NFL 2K

EA Sports’ exclusive license agreement with the NFL brought about the end of the NFL 2K series. 2K Sports tried to remain in the market with All-Pro Football, which featured fictitious teams and real-life NFL legends. However, the lack of real NFL teams, players and missing features proved to be too large of an obstacle to overcome. 2K originally planned to release the football game every other year, but shelved those plans and got out of the football gaming market altogether. While the EA/NFL agreement expires in 2013, it’s hard to imagine that the league will abandon the best-selling sports franchise and allow 2K to get back into the NFL market.

NHL 2K went before it's time -- likely never to return.

NHL 2K

After several years of falling behind EA Sports’ NHL series in sales, 2K Sports cancelled its NHL 2K11 game for all platforms except the Wii, based on the rationale that the company wanted to focus on that console and return with improved games on all consoles in 2011. However, 2K Sports decided not to release an NHL 2K12 for any console, which led most observers to believe that 2K Sports was finished with its hockey franchise.

Other Sports

2K Sports has released games for other sports like tennis and boxing. Its most successful franchise among these sports has been the Top Spin tennis series, based on 2K Sports’ commitment to producing several games in the series. The most recent edition, Top Spin 4, was released in 2011 to modest sales. 2K Sports also tried its hand at boxing with Don King Presents: Prizefighter in 2008.

Final Thoughts

As 2K Sports’ library continues to dwindle, questions about its future will be raised. 2K Sports has a multi-year licensing agreement with the NBA and it may take EA's NBA several years to recapture the sales lead, so the 2K’s flagship franchise appears to be safe for now.

2K Sports and Major League Baseball are likely to end their affiliation this year, and with the video game industry as a whole going through a bit of a down period, it is very doubtful that 2K Sports will revive any of their discontinued franchises or attempt to start any new ones. There also remains the very real possibility of EA Sports purchasing 2K Sports from Take-Two and integrating the NBA 2K series into its stable of games.

However, if that purchase doesn’t occur, and as long as NBA 2K remains a successful franchise, I think 2K Sports will survive, even if it is the developer’s only remaining sports game franchise.

What do you think the future holds for 2K Sports? Are you optimistic that they will bring back some of their beloved franchises? Will they be acquired by EA Sports? Or will they continue along as a one-franchise developer?

Member Comments

# 1 DaWolf @ 01/24/12 04:32 PM

I think it will be tough for 2K in the long run as EA will try everything to take bakc the NBA market - and they do have the power to do that you would think. Maybe they should think about making a soccer game to expand their market to europe a little more. I do think theres room for one more game.

# 2 matt8204 @ 01/24/12 04:33 PM

How about a new soccer franchise? Might be tough with FIFA and PES and soccer isn't the most popular sport in the US, but what do they have to lose?

# 3 loloben @ 01/24/12 04:50 PM

I honestly think 2K should mainly focus on NBA 2k. If they use the money they have making some great improvements to NBA2k, they'll outsell EA Sports by a lot and survive.

# 4 bigfnjoe96 @ 01/24/12 04:51 PM

I have always favored 2K/VC developed games over EA. I remember buying a Dreamcast & playing NBA & NFL 2K. Since those games I have been a fan of 2K/VC. Unfortunately reality might be setting in. My hope is that they don't fold as a development team & another publisher sees the talent within the studio & adds them to their portfolio so hopefully we can continue to see Sports title from them.

If that doesn't happen it's been a great run & thanks for all the memories

# 5 Gramps91 @ 01/24/12 04:55 PM

I really hope the end is not near. Basketball gaming is what I do about half of my gaming time. and no one can make a basketball game like 2k. EA basketball titles are usually ok, they have a few good ones. but I have yet to play a bad 2k basketball title.
Please bring back College hoops 2k series!!!

# 6 Kentucky_Wildcat23 @ 01/24/12 05:07 PM

I hope that 2k is able to keep the NBA Franchise alive. I refuse to go back to EA's pathetic excuse of NBA games. I would love to see a College Basketball game again. It was always my favorite game growing up.

# 7 Dazraz @ 01/24/12 05:20 PM

A depressing read but sadly a realistic one. 2K as a company have got it wrong a few too many times & it may ultimately cost them there place in the world of sports videogames.

When EA signed their exclusive NFL license they took every player out of the market. How many releases of Madden during this exclusive period have been well received? Okay Madden 12 was a step forward for sure but itt is way behind what the current generation of consoles are capable of delivering. Without any opposition though EA can sit back & simply say, 'it's out game, or no game'.

With the exception of All Pro Football, which many still highly regard, EA have had no competition in the genre. When 2K signed their exclusive deal with the MLB it was only 3rd Party exclusivity. That left Sony free to pursue the MLB the Show series & what a job they've done. Bad enough then that you sign a ridiculously expensive deal, even worse when your game is blown out of the water. Even though 360 owners haven't got another baseball game to go to I wonder how many abstained from buying MLB 2K simply out of frustration at what was being created for the PS3.

The NHL series is another blunder by 2K. 2K should of stepped out of the NHL scene long before they did to give themselves some time to work on a new game & test it thoroughly prior to release. Instead they plodded on releasing progressively worse games until they had done irreversible damage to the title. Therefore, although their intention was to take a couple of years out, it seems NHL 2K is no more. What has this done for Hockey gaming. We have EA's NHL series that, although itself made some big strides a few years ago, has now started to go through the stagnation process we see many EA titles go through when there is a lack of opposition.

Unless somehow 2K can get the rights to do another Football game it's hard to see how the company can continue, at least in it's current form. The Top Spin series has competition now from EA's Grand Slam Tennis. Even 2K's one recent success story, NBA 2K11, has come back to haunt them. For so vast & impressive was the game from it's predecessor that everyone expected, unrealistically in my opinion, the same strides with 2K12.

The survival of 2K is not good for EA, the survival of 2K may not even be good for 2K themselves, but for us as gamers we need to hope survival does take place.

# 8 CarryTheWeight @ 01/24/12 05:22 PM

Simply put, we NEED more variety in sports gaming. Different perspectives, at least, will make our gaming experience much better.

It will downgrade the product across the board if one publisher attains a stronghold on sports gaming. I don't want to see it happen, but with costs rising as consoles get increasingly powerful, fewer developers may be willing to risk buying into sports gaming.

# 9 SHAKYR @ 01/24/12 05:22 PM

I hate to even think of 2K going under because EA would force feed us subpar garbage and expect us to accept it.

# 10 beantown85 @ 01/24/12 05:41 PM

2k has done nothing to help themselves. It seems like every year when NBA comes out there's a million glitches that take months to fix before you can even fully enjoy a game, that's pathetic.

I do hate the fact that every sport has only 1 game that comes out because of the licensing. Madden has gotten lazy and their product is actually getting worse as the years go by because they don't have any competitors to worry about. Madden used to be my favorite game and every year it just gets worse, this year is no exception. Especially with the fact that they have the worst announcers on that game ever, they don't even have a play-by-play announcer that actually does NFL football.

# 11 LiveBaller @ 01/24/12 05:44 PM

I think 2ksports could be around for a while. They could release college hoops again as dlc for nba2k or a stand alone Xbox live arcade game. For 15-20 bucks it could be a very good sell just like NFL 2k5 was. They need to make another football game. They can go with a more story driven approach like fight night champion which could sell. Adding a more story driven mode in all their games could help.

Also they might have to somewhat change their lineup of games. Might have to add other sports racing or soccer or ufc or boxing. New technology like the euphoria engine in their games. Expand to over the top games like NBA jam. I think it could be done with as long as the games are competitive to EASports lineup they cold survive.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

# 12 LiveBaller @ 01/24/12 05:46 PM

They definitely have to fix the glitches and bugs with their games first. Making a massive improvement to the online experience needs to be done to keep the fans they have loyal.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

# 13 jersez @ 01/24/12 06:05 PM

I don't think so, it always comes down to money and 2ksports haven't produced the sales from other sports genres. The only way I can see it surviving is to do what 989 did and migrate to one system and developing for that console exclusively. 989 and 2k are a bit similar and they should follow that model, except of course it would be basketball and not baseball.

# 14 pietasterp @ 01/24/12 06:16 PM

It's over...I'm an original 2k/Sega Sports supporter from back in the Dreamcast days (I've relayed here previously how I saw NFL2k running on DC hardware at an Electronics Boutique and immediately went in and bought one on the spot for that one game), but the way the winds are blowing, it just doesn't seem like there's a way forward. You can't fight the money and influence of EA. They win, we all lose.

# 15 sportyguyfl31 @ 01/24/12 06:57 PM

It's easy and lazy to play the "It's EA's fault" game.

2K has made their fair share of bad decisions and have been their own enemy as well.

They've had their chances.

Football? They had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8, and put forth a half hearted effort. The result was a self fulfilling prophesy: Excitement, followed by the realization that the game had a lot of warts, followed by 2K's half hearted attempt to patch the game, followed by a lose of interest by the community, followed by 2k abandoning the game.

They've had plenty of chances with baseball, but always produce a bug filled mess.

Eventually your mistakes are going to catch up to you.

# 16 RaychelSnr @ 01/24/12 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peigone


	Odd that OS is so happy to post editorials like this one about 2K's failures, or another a couple weeks back about how EA can continue to beat up on Konami in soccer. I'll bet in a million years we'd never see a similarly critical commentary on either EA or SCEA, OS's two goldenboy devs. Kind of reminds me of the dysfunctional symbiotic relationship between schoolyard bullies and their wannabe followers.

# 17 pietasterp @ 01/24/12 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31


	It's easy and lazy to play the "It's EA's fault" game. 2K has made their fair share of bad decisions and have been their own enemy as well. They've had their chances. Football? They had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8, and put forth a half hearted effort. The result was a self fulfilling prophesy: Excitement, followed by the realization that the game had a lot of warts, followed by 2K's half hearted attempt to patch the game, followed by a lose of interest by the community, followed by 2k abandoning the game. They've had plenty of chances with baseball, but always produce a bug filled mess. Eventually your mistakes are going to catch up to you.

I understand your point, and I agree to some extent, but I think the difference is that because of EA's overwhelming dominance (financially and otherwise) in the sports game genre, all other competitors are left with very little margin for error. How many companies produce nothing but A+ games year-after-year? Of course 2k has made errors, but even when they have the better product, it doesn't necessarily make a difference in sales because of EA's sales force and marketing. And every time they produce a less-than-A+ game, they get absolutely hammered in the market and press. Meanwhile, EA can produce mediocre title after mediocre title, and their sales stay consistent because of the mass of loyal purchasers. EA can survive mediocrity; everyone else has to be superior for many years in a row before people pay attention, with no missteps along the way (NBA2k has been better than EA's hoops title for almost a decade; only in the past few years has it made a difference in sales). The barrier to break EA's grip on the genre is just too high at this point. And that's a bad thing, in my opinion.

# 18 spankdatazz22 @ 01/24/12 07:50 PM

I TOTALLY disagree with the "they had a wonderful opportunity with APF2K8". Just like now, the community wanted the game to be everything - allow them to make a psuedo-NFL game. Or a college game. Or USFL game. Be able to adapt the rules appropriately. But make the core game compelling, since most people aren't going to take the time to customize it extensively. It was a risky project from the start; there was no sense dedicating huge sums of resources on a project with so much risk. And given Take Two's legal issues at the time with Rockstar, it didn't make much sense to be inviting litigation from the NFL trying to protect their IP. The hardcore community should've been a lot more understanding of the near-impossible situation and they weren't. And now cry about lack of choice when there's a reason no other dev is taking on making a non-licensed sports game. Really don't see how creating a game in such a limited fashion is a "wonderful opportunity".

# 19 truintellectplaya @ 01/24/12 07:53 PM

Redundant topic to be nice about it, but I will jump in and add to the redundancy. Anyone that respects competition should be licking 2k's boots for what they did to make sports gaming when it comes to the most popular US sports interesting for this long. There NFL and NBA franchises extended sports gaming because I truly believe if it was EA alone people would have lost interest like I have for football sports gaming. Yes, there were others but none could ever do it like 2K and actually send the competitor running home. On the other hand, I am concern because 2K has the Buster Douglas syndrome. They are built to beat there main competitor but maybe not everyone else or most importantly themselves. I have not played on the internet in years but they should have fixed those issues by now. They should have upgraded there graphics engines long ago.

All that said, the NBA franchise is still superior and if games like Halo, The Show, etc. can get people to buy a system just to play it, NBA 2K will survive. They just need to be realistic and bring back College Hoops. I don't think it is going to lose as much as there baseball game did. Then go from there. I would suggest looking into a wrestling game also as WWE leaves a lot to be desired to many.

# 20 stlstudios189 @ 01/24/12 08:28 PM

wow 2k sports is my all time favorite sports developer and one by one they have fallen.

« Previous12 3 Next »

More Links