Reaction to Year 2 of The Park/Neighborhood

[guesswhozbak17]

As someone who has played MAYBE 5 park games total in the 2K18 lifespan, this new trailer (plus the comments) are making things crystal clear to me.

“People asked for this mode, so they’re listening and give the people what they want.”

“The Park looks like a joke to me, wasted resources when the core gameplay still has legacy issues.”

Those are the two general reactions I’m seeing...those who like it and those who don’t. 2K is headed down a slippery slope in my opinion.

The early 2K’s targeted HARDCORE basketball fans in its early days (Dreamcast). The success of the NBA 2K series naturally brought it attention and sales (money). The success now seems to have 2K trying to rake in as much money possible which you can’t knock them for business wise...

The problem I’m foreseeing is the target audience. I don’t believe 2K, or any game company for that matter, can create a game for such contrasting gamers.

There’s an audience who wants the game AS REAL AS POSSIBLE and can’t stand gimmicks (that could be fun) because they deviate away from maintaining things as real as possible
AND THEN
there’s an audience who wants the game AS FUN AS POSSIBLE even if it means having unrealistic things in place because they just want to have fun.

I will use Mario Tennis as an example. My kid LOVES it. Why? Because it’s fun to him. He doesn’t have to worry about physics, grass courts vs. claycourts, if the ball bounces realistically.

Top Spin Tennis is fun to me. Why? Because it’s realistic. No gimmicks, no unrealistic things happening, no power ups etc.

My kid can’t enjoy Top Spin yet because it’s “too hard” for him at a young age and I can’t play Mario Tennis for an extended period because...it’s not realistic, too many gimmicks. It’s fun in short moderation TO ME.

NBA Jam USED TO BE fun to me when I was a kid. I was still learning the rules and basic BASIC fundamentals of basketball. Now, a few games of NBA Jam might be fun then I’d go crazy about things being unrealistic.

I think 2K is playing with fire. Not saying they’re not catering to both crowds, I simply question how long will they be able to do it for without alienating the other crowd. The argument of “maybe they should just make The Park it’s own separate game from NBA 2K” might be something to think about in the future. (A year from now? 5 years from now? A decade from now? ��)

*Before anybody twists up my words, NO...I am not comparing NBA 2K to Mario Tennis!

[lakers24]

The biggest issue isn't that it's the same game, hardcore guys take issue when it bleeds into the core experience. That has been the problem the last few years with the VC stuff, MyCareer being where it is now, gameplay being tweaked more towards casual gamers when it plays fine at release, etc.

The scariest thing is that we've seen how the gaming industry as a whole has titled towards this new microtransaction/casual gamer demographic. Companies are now trying to capitalize on it at the expense at what established these brands. As an example, I think GTA 5 was good but they short changed how great of a single player experience we could've had due to GTAO. I'm scared as hell RDR2 will follow that path too since GTAO has brought in so much money. Sports games are even easier to do this with given the ultimate team modes and now 2ks doubling down on VC.

[Trackball]

Microtransactions are a bubble that really, REALLY needs to burst.

"We're not monetizing our users enough."
--Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick

[guesswhozbak17]

I’m in total agreement with you. If my memory serves right, didn’t you have to complete the single player mode of GTA before the online mode unlocked?

And yes, the micro transactions suck from the consumer perspective but makes sense from the business side. I’m actually VERY surprised they haven’t started making us use VC for the classic teams/players yet. I consider us fortunate for NOT having to use VC on that stuff (yet).

I still remember playing The Neighborhood for an hour the first time in 2K18...got a haircut that I couldn’t even preview first, didn’t like it, had to spend MORE VC to get something I like.

Can you imagine if they made you use VC to get wrestling moves in WWE? (without previewing them?)

Again, we can’t knock them for trying to make money but I’m sure I’m in the minority when I say I only spend the $65.01 for the game and that’s it. I refuse to spend $100 AFTER THE FACT of buying the game to keep playing.

I saw this coming in the first iterations of Call of Duty where you had to buy map packs to play online with your friends. Who knows what the gaming industry will be 5-10 years from now in regards to micro transactions.

[3ShowTime2]

I said it last year. The "first version" of the neighbourhood is only the beginning. Its a multiyear project, they already have plans for the next few years on how to expand it. This way they can sell us something new every year. From their perspective, it makes sense. A basketball game and its culture fits pretty well into an open world where you can run around, jump into games, do other stuff if you want to and just have fun with your friends. And their main target audience wants that.



Microtransactions wont go anywhere in the future. Sometimes people forget that games are a business. Before the internet was around it simply was not possible to do stuff like microtransactions, you developed the game and tried to sell as much copies as you could and that was it. You couldnt make any more profit after the game was done. Now its possible, and you cant blame game developers to capitalize on that.

[Vroman]

Quote: Originally Posted by 3ShowTime2

I said it last year. The "first version" of the neighbourhood is only the beginning. Its a multiyear project, they already have plans for the next few years on how to expand it. This way they can sell us something new every year. From their perspective, it makes sense. A basketball game and its culture fits pretty well into an open world where you can run around, jump into games, do other stuff if you want to and just have fun with your friends. And their main target audience wants that. Microtransactions wont go anywhere in the future. Sometimes people forget that games are a business. Before the internet was around it simply was not possible to do stuff like microtransactions, you developed the game and tried to sell as much copies as you could and that was it. You couldnt make any more profit after the game was done. Now its possible, and you cant blame game developers to capitalize on that.

Microtransactions in games exist for a while already and there are plenty games where its introduced without breaking competative integrity like its the case with nba2k.

Its very sad to me that 2k way to maximise profit is the attempt to push as much inconvenience as they can to force people into spending more. We have this "circus" features getting expanded while still left of lacking simple options and common sense through out the online game modes.

[MrWrestling3]

It is the ongoing debate of casualization(or "accessibility" as the industry calls it) versus core gameplay that's been going for years in the industry.

I will say that at this point,I would like it if 2K would just make a decision as to which fanbase they want and commit fully to it so we would know where we stand instead of trying to mix and match.

Like the old saying saying goes, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

[extremeskins04]

I think while 2k is still trying to give the hardcore fans a slice every year, they're slowly drifting away from what their original "model" was, and that's keeping it geared towards realism in it's entirety.

Now, it's a VC-driven, dodge-ball playin', go to the barber and get your haircut kind of game, because to alot of people, it's not just a basketball game anymore.

This game is turning into a "on the streets simulator" plagued by microtransactions.