NBA 2K15 Ships on October 7th, Pre-Order and Get the KD MVP Bonus Pack

[Caveman24]

[Clappington]

Guess some of you guys don't understand that 2k is a company and being a company, you are going to do what gets you the most money, you always want to maximize your earnings off someone as a company. They know lots of people would easily spend a lot of money buying VC so why turn down that money? From a company stand point, putting in this VC system was the best thing to happen to them, just go on twitter and just look at Ronnie timeline, I remember couple months ago a dude said he had every player in the game, he said he spent 2k bucks getting them, as a company thats what you love to hear because thats more money, rather you like it or not, video game companies are greedy and it will always be like that. for the people who complain about always online, we all know why its on the game so lets stop complaining, shoulda told ya homies on 360 to stop hacking all the time.

[manustyle90]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clappington

Guess some of you guys don't understand that 2k is a company and being a company, you are going to do what gets you the most money, you always want to maximize your earnings off someone as a company. They know lots of people would easily spend a lot of money buying VC so why turn down that money? From a company stand point, putting in this VC system was the best thing to happen to them, just go on twitter and just look at Ronnie timeline, I remember couple months ago a dude said he had every player in the game, he said he spent 2k bucks getting them, as a company thats what you love to hear because thats more money, rather you like it or not, video game companies are greedy and it will always be like that. for the people who complain about always online, we all know why its on the game so lets stop complaining, shoulda told ya homies on 360 to stop hacking all the time.

Please consider that a GOOD company should not only focus on quick, easy and cheesy short-term revenue (aka MyVC casual stuff), but also consider the long-term relation with it’s customer and fanbase, even the historical sim-fanbase wich now, honestly, seems to be considered as a niche that doesn’t generate revenue (but it's the one that supported 2k for years).
The only solution right now is a decent competition, I truly hope there will be at least some in the next years (EA pls)

[ShogunTake]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clappington

Guess some of you guys don't understand that 2k is a company and being a company, you are going to do what gets you the most money, you always want to maximize your earnings off someone as a company. They know lots of people would easily spend a lot of money buying VC so why turn down that money? From a company stand point, putting in this VC system was the best thing to happen to them, just go on twitter and just look at Ronnie timeline, I remember couple months ago a dude said he had every player in the game, he said he spent 2k bucks getting them, as a company thats what you love to hear because thats more money, rather you like it or not, video game companies are greedy and it will always be like that. for the people who complain about always online, we all know why its on the game so lets stop complaining, shoulda told ya homies on 360 to stop hacking all the time.

In other words, some people are incredibly stupid for wasting so much money on VC. $2000 on VC you say? That's absolutely pathetic if it's true.

[VDusen04]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clappington

Guess some of you guys don't understand that 2k is a company and being a company, you are going to do what gets you the most money, you always want to maximize your earnings off someone as a company. They know lots of people would easily spend a lot of money buying VC so why turn down that money? From a company stand point, putting in this VC system was the best thing to happen to them, just go on twitter and just look at Ronnie timeline, I remember couple months ago a dude said he had every player in the game, he said he spent 2k bucks getting them, as a company thats what you love to hear because thats more money, rather you like it or not, video game companies are greedy and it will always be like that. for the people who complain about always online, we all know why its on the game so lets stop complaining, shoulda told ya homies on 360 to stop hacking all the time.

There's a point there. 2K is, in fact, a company and their point is to make money. I think the question would be whether their approach here is sustainable over the long run.

Through decades of working toward only creating the ultimate simulation basketball game (except for ESPN NBA Basketball 2004), 2K was able to build themselves a very worthy and loyal fanbase. As such, when they began introducing VC and other non-simulation/realism money-making schemes, a lot of folks were already on the bandwagon from their previous success.

If (and that's a big if) 2K continues down the VC/fantasy/My/AlwaysOnline path in 2K15, I think a lot of folks are going to be hopping off that bandwagon. The question will then become: will there be enough folks sticking around (who love playing the fantasy modes) to make up for the numbers lost otherwise? If the answer is yes, then people like me are just going to be out of luck. We're looking for simulation, customization, and realism but we'll have nowhere to go.

However, I also think it's possible that this hurts 2K's brand over the long run, and a game that felt untouchable just a few years ago could become quite vulnerable. 2K has no competition now, but if this super-early-possibly-meaningless release is any indication, they could be leaving that door wide open.

Unfortunately, I think the most likely route is 2K will continue to cash in while people looking for realism (not just on the court, but off as well) will be completely out of luck. Before, when NBA Live began going arcade in the early 2000's, we had NBA 2K as a simulation alternative. We no longer have that alternative.

[WaddupCouzin]

As I said in my earlier post and Clappington stated in his, it's a business! Companies will Microtransaction action you to death! Think about it, people will pay $109 for Battlefield ($64+$49) for the DLC. Hell, I just bought Watchdogs and paid $19.99 for the DLC, that's an $84.00 game at that point.

As long as people buy the VC, companies will sell it.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[blues rocker]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

The question will then become: will there be enough folks sticking around (who love playing the fantasy modes) to make up for the numbers lost otherwise? If the answer is yes, then people like me are just going to be out of luck. We're looking for simulation, customization, and realism but we'll have nowhere to go.

i think the casual fan base FAR outweighs the sim fan base. coming on a board like this, it can be easy to forget how rare sim gamers are - they make up a tiny fraction of 2k's customers. i'd say the makeup of 2k's customers right now is probably like 95% casual, 5% sim. maybe even 98% casual. if every sim player stopped buying 2k games, i don't think it would make a dent in 2k's revenue. the average person just wants to zone out and not think when playing games. bottom line is that there will always be far more kids and casuals buying games than serious sim heads. 2k's going to cater to them because there are a lot more of them. numbers and money always win.

now that 2k has developed mass appeal in the video game culture, i don't think they're going to go more sim anytime soon. i won't be buying a 2k game again until they offer a more "strategy-based" online quick match mode. the fact that someone can compete with me online by jacking up bad shots and forcing contact shots inside just doesn't fly with me. until 2k offers a fulfilling quick match mode that rewards you more for passing and open shots, i won't be buying another game.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

Through decades of working toward only creating the ultimate simulation basketball game (except for ESPN NBA Basketball 2004), 2K was able to build themselves a very worthy and loyal fanbase. As such, when they began introducing VC and other non-simulation/realism money-making schemes, a lot of folks were already on the bandwagon from their previous success.

I disagreed with this "loyal" sentiment and people got mad last year, and I still disagree with it. Imo the hardcore fanbase - at least the more vocal wing of the hardcore fanbase - aren't loyal fans. They simply want a realistic basketball game and don't care who gives it to them. This wouldn't be a discussion if EA or another game were offering what you desire. All it's taken is a few words in an early in the development stage press release for people to already start declaring "they're out", or looking elsewhere. For all of 2K's supposed great history with hardcore players, it only took one year to erase all of that? You say you haven't even purchased the game the past two years yourself - and I don't blame you for not purchasing the games if you don't feel they're for you. But imo that isn't loyalty. If 2K provides a product you like, you purchase it. If they don't, you don't purchase it.

Imo the word loyalty gets used in a way as to infer 2K's abandoning your principles, it's dedication to providing a quality NBA experience. But have they really? For all the talk NOW of how great the NBA Combine was, back in 2K10 when the only DLC 2K had was the $5 NBA Combine, people around here flipped out. Despite the fact that every other major sports game had extensive DLC offerings. Back then I remember many saying it was more about principle than the $5 cost.

Forward to 2K12, and 2K expands on it's Legends team content in a major way, even adding era-specific presentation. You'd think the hardcore would be elated, but around here the general perception that gets pushed is the game was garbage. If I recall correctly people here were mad that 2K had two Legends teams as a preorder bonus; they felt they shouldn't have to preorder or pay to get the teams. I think eventually they were released as free codes.

Too often this board [collectively] overreacts about the least little news then expects to be taken seriously. I'm not trying to downplay the VC fiasco as I don't know how invasive it is to the individual gameplay modes - I don't own an XBO yet but likely will get one soon. And I'm not a fan of the My-whatever features. But how far have these things really intruded on 2K's focus of delivering a quality playing game? By most accounts NBA2K14 on the 360/PS3 was a "cheeser's nightmare" I remember people commenting early on. NBA2K14 PS4/XBO was widely regarded as easily the best playing basketball game to date. Now it's looked at as total crap, with people inferring they were bamboozled.

For me it's hard to blame 2K IF they are in fact focusing more on the My-whatever faction of their fanbase since it seems to the be larger and more content contingent of their fanbase. One thing I see with hardcore players is a certain intolerance towards anything not perceived as a hardcore focus - this board had a petition circling a few years ago to have 2K completely remove Blacktop mode because they wanted 2K to focus "more on the gameplay". I'm a little all over the place with this post, but on some level people should look at the constant hyperbole and overreactions being thrown around and understand maybe that's part of the reason there's less of a focus to placate that portion of the fanbase.