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

[ssimpsons3]

Real eSport games that have professional leagues is 100% a full-time job.

League Of Legends, DOTA, CS:GO, Rainbow 6, and Overwatch all have professional leagues where they PAY the players. People don't know the legitimicy of eSports in 2017...and its huge. Beyond huge. Niche market, but they are rockstars and make BANK in their profession.

And since this is fueled by the actual NBA...you're looking at 5 figure contracts...at least. This has potential to be waaaay more popular than any league listed above, because of the ties with the NBA.

But...this priority from 2k needs 3 things...that every other pro game has...

1.) The end of yearly releases. They need to constantly be updating and balancing the game engine being used. They can't switch up things every year and expect pros to adapt. All pro games are NOT yearly releases.

2.) No leveling up, all class based. There can be NO VC in this. None, except for all cosmetic stuff. Real pro games use class system, not the guy who leveld up has the advantage. Everyone is equal and true skill and focus win the day. Current system in PvP like MMOs. Will not work for a pro league.

3.) TRANSPARENCY. Massive patch notes with % of boost/nerf. WE NEED NUMBERS AND CONSISTENCY TO GO HAND IN HAND. There needs to be exact percentages for different shots, moves, badges...everything. HAS TO BE. No more RNG to determine outcomes, has to be consistant to reward skill and not 2k luck. Everyone who has ever played 2k knows exactly what I mean.

[tril]

Only way that I can see this working is if the developers implement a player star based system similar to APF2k8. That along with the player attributes will most likely create a better balanced league.

[jyoung]

Quote:

I can't see people being that interested in watching games where people are exploiting 3's and screens while playing "hectic" basketball.

Pro Am's gameplay had a lot more variety and tactics last year before 2K went full arcade and decided to add these ridiculous hall of fame badges and grand badges to the mode.

Screens, ankle breakers, and three pointers weren't nearly as effective in 2K16 Pro Am, so the meta didn't revolve entirely around those three things like it does in 2K17.

This year, 90% of the teams in elite 1 through elite 6 just zig zag behind hall of fame brick wall screens until the defense stumbles/falls down/runs out of stamina.

[howboutdat]

Sounds cool, if i didnt have a life, no job , no wife, no kid, might be something i would have time to try to get into . Outside of that, with all the above mentioned, i dont forsee me taking what little time i have to sit and watch some cats try to play one another for money.

[Inzombniac]

I haven't seen this brought up and maybe the two have nothing to do with each other but I wonder if this has anything to do with the Legend status in the Park and being immortalized in 2K18? Given the rarity of getting to that level, perhaps this is part of that process. Not that I at all agree with that being a benchmark for it nor do I even see myself getting there but it does intrigue if we finally got a hint as to what that even means.

[ksuttonjr76]

Quote: Originally Posted by ssimpsons3

Real eSport games that have professional leagues is 100% a full-time job. League Of Legends, DOTA, CS:GO, Rainbow 6, and Overwatch all have professional leagues where they PAY the players. People don't know the legitimicy of eSports in 2017...and its huge. Beyond huge. Niche market, but they are rockstars and make BANK in their profession. And since this is fueled by the actual NBA...you're looking at 5 figure contracts...at least. This has potential to be waaaay more popular than any league listed above, because of the ties with the NBA. But...this priority from 2k needs 3 things...that every other pro game has... 1.) The end of yearly releases. They need to constantly be updating and balancing the game engine being used. They can't switch up things every year and expect pros to adapt. All pro games are NOT yearly releases. 2.) No leveling up, all class based. There can be NO VC in this. None, except for all cosmetic stuff. Real pro games use class system, not the guy who leveld up has the advantage. Everyone is equal and true skill and focus win the day. Current system in PvP like MMOs. Will not work for a pro league. 3.) TRANSPARENCY. Massive patch notes with % of boost/nerf. WE NEED NUMBERS AND CONSISTENCY TO GO HAND IN HAND. There needs to be exact percentages for different shots, moves, badges...everything. HAS TO BE. No more RNG to determine outcomes, has to be consistant to reward skill and not 2k luck. Everyone who has ever played 2k knows exactly what I mean.

From Wikipedia....
The global eSports market generated US $325 million of revenue in 2015 and is expected to make $493 million in 2016; the global eSports audience in 2015 was 226 million people.[11]

I guess it is bigger than I originally thought. The NBA is forward thinking, and they're trying to cash in on that untapped potential. EA might want to try to do something with their Madden and particularly FIFA games.

[Dyslexicphish]

Quote: Originally Posted by ssimpsons3

Real eSport games that have professional leagues is 100% a full-time job. League Of Legends, DOTA, CS:GO, Rainbow 6, and Overwatch all have professional leagues where they PAY the players. People don't know the legitimicy of eSports in 2017...and its huge. Beyond huge. Niche market, but they are rockstars and make BANK in their profession. And since this is fueled by the actual NBA...you're looking at 5 figure contracts...at least. This has potential to be waaaay more popular than any league listed above, because of the ties with the NBA. But...this priority from 2k needs 3 things...that every other pro game has... 1.) The end of yearly releases. They need to constantly be updating and balancing the game engine being used. They can't switch up things every year and expect pros to adapt. All pro games are NOT yearly releases. 2.) No leveling up, all class based. There can be NO VC in this. None, except for all cosmetic stuff. Real pro games use class system, not the guy who leveld up has the advantage. Everyone is equal and true skill and focus win the day. Current system in PvP like MMOs. Will not work for a pro league. 3.) TRANSPARENCY. Massive patch notes with % of boost/nerf. WE NEED NUMBERS AND CONSISTENCY TO GO HAND IN HAND. There needs to be exact percentages for different shots, moves, badges...everything. HAS TO BE. No more RNG to determine outcomes, has to be consistant to reward skill and not 2k luck. Everyone who has ever played 2k knows exactly what I mean.

Love this post as it highlights my biggest complaints about 2k moving in to eSports. The only thing I would add would be stable servers. Right now 2k's servers are an absolute joke especially for what they are trying to do.

From your list the only thing I can maybe see happening is #3. It has always irked me that they have never released the concrete numbers in terms of what badges actually do. #1 and #2 will probably never happen (though I wish they would) because they make 2k far too much money. From the press release where it says players using user-generated avatars it seems that they are keeping the current model for the foreseeable future.

[tril]

Quote: Originally Posted by ksuttonjr76

From Wikipedia.... The global eSports market generated US $325 million of revenue in 2015 and is expected to make $493 million in 2016; the global eSports audience in 2015 was 226 million people.[11] I guess it is bigger than I originally thought. The NBA is forward thinking, and they're trying to cash in on that untapped potential. EA might want to try to do something with their Madden and particularly FIFA games.

that's a huge market, but if you were to break that number down a bit further, folks would realize that the audience is probably less into sports games and more into, shooters, fantasy and fighting games.

its a good risk for the NBA though. Its low investment and high reward.