NBA and Take-Two Launching NBA 2K eLeague in 2018, Teams Operated By NBA Franchises

[bostonchipster]

As pictured in the image above, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, joins NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, at the league’s headquarters in New York, N.Y. on Wednesday, February 8th, 2017, as they announce plans to launch the NBA 2K eLeague, a new, professional competitive gaming league. NBA 2K eLeague will bring together the best basketball gamers in the world, and marks the first official eSports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league.

Read the official press release below. More details are scheduled to arrive later today.

NBA AND TAKE-TWO TO LAUNCH NBA 2K eLeague

First Official eSports League Operated by U.S. Professional Sports League Set for 2018 Debut

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today announced plans to launch the NBA 2K eLeague, a new, professional competitive gaming league that will bring together the best basketball gamers in the world. This marks the first official eSports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league.

Set to debut in 2018, this groundbreaking competitive gaming league will consist of teams operated by actual NBA franchises. The founding teams, each composed of five professional eSports players who will play the game as user-created avatars, will be announced in the coming months. The NBA 2K eLeague will follow a professional sports league format: competing head-to-head throughout a regular season, participating in a bracketed playoff system, and concluding with a championship matchup.

“We believe we have a unique opportunity to develop something truly special for our fans and the young and growing eSports community,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We look forward to combining our best-in-class NBA sports team operators with Take-Two’s competitive gaming expertise to create a brand new league experience.”

“We are proud to expand our strong relationship with the NBA and co-create the NBA 2K eLeague,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Through the NBA 2K series, which is renowned throughout the world for capturing the authenticity of the NBA and the passion of its fans, we have a proven track record of highly successful collaboration. With this new venture, Take-Two and the NBA aim to fuel the accelerating growth of eSports and take the thrill of competition to exciting new heights.”

The relationship between NBA and Take-Two dates back to 1999, with the NBA 2K series selling over 68 million units worldwide. The most recent release, NBA 2K17, is the highest-rated annual sports game of the current console generation and the highest-rated title in the history of the NBA 2K series.(1) To date, NBA 2K17 has sold-in nearly 7 million units, and is poised to become 2K’s highest-selling sports title ever.

In December, 2K launched its second official eSports competition, NBA 2K17 All-Star Tournament, which offers teams of gamers the chance to win a trip to NBA All-Star 2017. The 5-on-5 tournament, featuring a $250,000 grand prize, will culminate on Feb. 17 in New Orleans.

[Jrocc23]

This is nice as hell. I would love to do something like that but it seems it'll be almost impossible to get a spot.

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[fakeassc]

Wow. No wonder 2K gave up on making gameplay fixes for 2K17. They're putting all their energy into next year's release, like they always 'supposedly' do; like how in 2016 they were putting in effort for a good 2K17 release right?

This is getting ridiculous if 2K promises, "Next year is our year, we'll do it better, we'll iron out all the recurring bugs and issues that people have with our game." So as consumers, we're expected to repeatedly buy the NEXT iteration of 2K's games without really seeing much major improvement over the years.

Admittedly, up until 2K16, it looked like 2K was really getting somewhere. Then 2K17, in my opinion, completely flopped, not in terms of sales, but in terms of player experience. It was a massive step backwards in gameplay.

I guess people, including me, are just going to buy 2K18 soon or on release date (I'm definitely going to wait for some initial opinions on OS). I'm expecting it to be amazing because 2K have the bravery to set up a full-time full-scale tournament.

I guess 2K really just wanted to disappoint us with 2K17 so we would set the bar lower for 2k18, and therefore be way happier with 2K18 if it even puts up a decent showing.

I highly doubt 2K has the bravery to put out an awful product and turn it into an esport. I can almost guarantee 2K18 will be better, but that's no praise. That's saying 2K neglected loyal consumers who continually return to this franchise (because it's the only one). That's saying 2K expects and knows that we, as consumers with no other choice to turn to, will inevitably purchase their annual product and that they can put out untested and unpolished games that will still turn a profit.

I just want 2K to put out another gameplay patch. We're still half a year from the next release, so put out another gameplay patch. But 2K probably won't since we'll all buy 2K18 anyway. 2K probably think, "Why use the extra manpower to fix a broken game? They'll come back next year like they always do, spending on microtransactions, etc."

I really hope 2K18 is better because I'll still buy it, albeit later. But please salvage what you can from 2K17 and release a big gameplay patch for the time being.

[King_B_Mack]

Never been big on the online gaming scene and that kind of stuff but this is amazing. Cool stuff to think that NBA games weren't considered to ever be big sellers and just not a big market and here we are. The NBA is actually operating a basketball video game eleague. Insane


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[EveretteWarren]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jrocc23

This is nice as hell. I would love to do something like that but it seems it'll be almost impossible to get a spot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All YouTubers. *sigh*

But I'm hoping for the best!

[Jrocc23]

Quote: Originally Posted by EveretteWarren

All YouTubers. *sigh* But I'm hoping for the best!

You're right. Sucks.


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[Yesh2kdone]

It's a great move for 2k but can't help but feel this will just further water down our my players to continue setting roles for this. They also need to be careful to to overreach; it would be embarrassing if people are constantly getting kicked etc

[OhNoTheBanHammer]

If it mirrors the NBA season and will debut in 2018 doesn't that mean this will drop with NBA 2K19?

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