NBA 2K14 News Post

NBA 2K14 VC Shows Its Ugly Side

10:15 PM - December 10, 2013 by JohnDoe8865

Virtual Currency (VC) in NBA 2K14 is a problem and if consumers don't voice their concerns, it's going to get worse.

Sure, there are ways to get free VC via the mobile app (if you can get it working), but gamers shouldn't be required to use VC to do simple tasks such as changing a lineup. We can understand using it in MyTeam (as it has been successful for EA Sports and Ultimate Team), but to have it added into other modes really has the community fired up. Customization isn't as fun as it once was, since VC is needed to update accessories and the ratio is ridiculous. Could this be next?

While there are many posts here at OS slamming it, other sites such as NeoGAF and Reddit have also been killing it from day one. PastaPadre has written a detailed article on it and the hate is spilling over.

VGRevolution warned users about it last year. Twitter is filled with complaints from users actually purchasing VC and not receiving it or crashing/freezing in modes, losing what they've earned. With no official word from 2K Sports, this is becoming a very large concern.

Where do you stand on VC?

Game: NBA 2K14Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 1 VDusen04 @ 12/10/13 10:34 PM

I appreciate the link. I am personally pleased to see light being shed upon this issue. I am hopeful the ball continues to roll and the critical comments begin to mount.

# 2 23 @ 12/10/13 10:36 PM

I dont play my team or my player for that matter but I heard about this and I find it just as silly as the whole "me" direction of these modes that you're being charged to change a lineup. All of this penny pinching for nothing in return is ridiculous.

# 3 JohnDoe8865 @ 12/10/13 10:40 PM

The most distressing issue for me personally is the requirement to use VC to "unlock" basic abilities like changing your lineup in MYGM mode. Can you imagine in The Association mode in CG if they'd done that? I see now why they didn't give us 30 team control in MYGM.

# 4 RangersCruz @ 12/10/13 10:42 PM

Unfortunately it's only a matter of them before all sports games will be doing that.

# 5 SuperNova854 @ 12/10/13 10:44 PM

My biggest issue is the fact MyTeam just seems so unplayable and unenjoyable. Gold packs are 13,000 VC now. That's rediculous. The whole VC concept shouldn't exist. But if it does, at least don't make everything so darn expensive to the point where we actually HAVE to pay for more VC.

# 6 Moegames @ 12/10/13 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	I dont play my team or my player for that matter but I heard about this and I find it just as silly as the whole "me" direction of these modes that you're being charged to change a lineup. All of this penny pinching for nothing in return is ridiculous.

Amen - it's a disgrace to gamers. All of this new microtranscations,etc leaves a nasty bitter taste in my mouth. Here is where we are going...things that normally would be "free" in the game are now being held for money purchases. This is not where gaming needs to go. It will be a HUGE disaster soon enough, mark my words. We already pay 64 dollars per game...now we gotta shell out more money "after" buy the game to unlock features that would normally be free? Are you serious? Some poor innocent folks will be persuaded as usual but folks such as myself and many at NeoGaf have already made our opinions be heard and we will not stop until this BS stops.

2k...i am very disappointed on the road you are now choosing to go down...this is a disgrace to gaming and only shows you in it for the money and the passion for making games are now a thing of the past..what a shame...sad sad times for gaming.

It all innocently started with DLC...now it has spread like cancer to micro-transactions. If you think console gamers are going to fall for it like mobile phone/tablet gamers have...you are in for a rude awakening!!

Make no mistake about this...2k, you are getting very close to crossing that thin delicate line with all these crappy distasteful micro-transactions....these things should normally be free...or there is no need to GRIND IT OUT in order to unlock stuff or of course..the worst of them all..having to PAY MORE MONEY to unlock things that normally would of been free with options to make things easier for us that already pay for the damn game!! What a greedy move, 2k!!

# 7 VDusen04 @ 12/10/13 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RangersCruz


	Unfortunately it's only a matter of them before all sports games will be doing that.

I do not believe this will be the case. I have a difficult time believing each and every sports video game franchise will buy into stupifying their entire product in such a fashion. For The Show, Madden, NBA 2K, NBA Live, NHL Hockey, and every other sports title to forego the idea of a realistic off-court experience in lieu of golden coins and overpriced RPG fantasies... that could create an unprecedented shift in the sports gaming world that I feel would ultimately lead to heavy consumer turnover.

It kind of feels like bizarro world. If the most popular basketball video game on the market were to try to pull this maneuver over in 2002, old school NBA 2K would have pounced all over this opportunity by stepping up and flaunting their commitment to providing the most realistic NBA basketball experience on the planet, free of virtual currency and forced fictional storylines.

Unfortunately, there is not an old school 2K-like alternative out there right now to fill the void or keep current 2K from going too crazy.

# 8 Flightwhite24 @ 12/10/13 11:07 PM

This pattern won't fly if it keeps up. How can you pay $60 plus and only parts of the game work??

I promise you sales will drop drastically next year. Sure some will buy but a lot of gamers are gonna pass this game over. Hell what are they gonna try to spring on us on top of what they tried to do this year??

I'm still in shock what they tried to do with this Next Gen version. Smdh

Sent from my iPhone

# 9 dramachild11 @ 12/10/13 11:07 PM

At this point it would just make sense to sell games for $80 and include everything cause then people wouldn't have any cause to complain (of course people would still complain about the price tag anyway)... But promising a full gaming experience before the game hits the shelves only to make people pay more money after purchase just strikes me as greediness... I don't think it actually threatens sales though cause the youngest consumers will grow up with this being the norm

# 10 DiceMan @ 12/10/13 11:10 PM

You need VC to even change your rotation? That's sickening....WTH were they thinking?

# 11 RayRay34 @ 12/10/13 11:14 PM

I wish VC was gone and would never come back. Unfortunately there are stupid people who spend money on it so as long as 2k is bringing in some sort of revenue from it it will never go away.

# 12 NDAlum @ 12/10/13 11:21 PM

Put me in the anti-VC category. I just can't support these micro-transactions to do BASIC game functions. It really rubs me the wrong way and as much I have loved the 2K series I won't buy the game next year if this continues. I'm not a huge basketball fan that needs to get a game. I'll easily pass if they continue this path.

# 13 Shakedowncapo @ 12/10/13 11:23 PM

VC is going nowhere. But I'm confident in saying that we can expect a complete overhaul come next year.

The only place VC belongs is an optional gameplay mode. Not something that the majority of its players buy the game for.

# 14 magicman32 @ 12/10/13 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dramachild11


	At this point it would just make sense to sell games for $80 and include everything cause then people wouldn't have any cause to complain (of course people would still complain about the price tag anyway)... But promising a full gaming experience before the game hits the shelves only to make people pay more money after purchase just strikes me as greediness... I don't think it actually threatens sales though cause the youngest consumers will grow up with this being the norm

2k isn't making anybody pay money for VC. VC IS FREE!!! I play mycareer mode and VC hasn't prevented me from making MYplayer better. I do agree with the people complaining about how expensive some of this stuff is though. I also don't agree with 2k making you spend VC on stuff like changing "Rotations". However, nobody is forced to buy VC. I refuse to spend real money. I don't get down like that. LOL.

2k really need to look into lowering the purchasing prices or allowing us to earn more VC for free. But I'm thinking a lot of people don't mind spending a few "real" bucks for VC and this is the reason they are doing it. For every person that won't buy VC, there are probably 10 people that really don't care and are willing to spend the money. Whether they are spending it themselves or asking "mommy" for 5 bucks, people are obviously buying it.

# 15 basehead617 @ 12/10/13 11:37 PM

What's the difference between VC and 'gold' in an RPG?

# 16 Hadlowe @ 12/10/13 11:42 PM

VC has secondary effects beyond just skewing the game economy.

The only reason why you are limited to 5 saves for MyCareer/MyGM is because of VC. They have to use cloud saves to prevent people from hacking the save files to give themselves free VC.

So when the cloud storage runs into errors (as in my case) where the save files become corrupted, the entire game becomes unplayable because of VC. I have a gorgeous $60 game that I cannot play at all.

It is patently ridiculous that you have to be online to play MyGM, a fully offline game mode.

I have been a loyal 2k customer for 6 years. I will not buy another 2k game until VC goes away outside of MyTeam mode. It has no place in any other game mode.

# 17 Optik @ 12/11/13 12:03 AM

Pretty pointless blaming reviewers who generally don't give a rat's *** about sports games. Not really their job to inform the public. Aren't they paid by the game companies anyway?

Yeah 2K were tone deaf (as usual) with the VC thing, but they need to make that money. They'll probably tone it down next year when they know that Live will still be around so they can't just focus on just cashing in.

# 18 Sinner @ 12/11/13 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayRay34


	I wish VC was gone and would never come back. Unfortunately there are stupid people who spend money on it so as long as 2k is bringing in some sort of revenue from it it will never go away.

If sales go down enough to where that extra revenue they get from VC don't cover the lost you better believe they will change things, and i'm really hoping that's what happens.

We can send them negative emails...read, tweet, and/or post articles all we want but it's not going to mean a damn thing if people don't take action and not buy the game if they continue like they are.

# 19 Sundown @ 12/11/13 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperNova854


	My biggest issue is the fact MyTeam just seems so unplayable and unenjoyable. Gold packs are 13,000 VC now. That's rediculous. The whole VC concept shouldn't exist. But if it does, at least don't make everything so darn expensive to the point where we actually HAVE to pay for more VC.

The massive hike in gold pack prices is extremely revealing.

Previously you could plausibly say that 2K designed all modes to be playable without buying VC, even if they tweaked the work/reward ratio to be a little less than satisfying. For all you know, some of the tweaks could have been for game balancing purposes (for example, I'm okay with slower progression than 2K11 in MyPlayer, even if I'm not okay with playing MyPlayer being the worst way to progress in MyPlayer).

Now the incredible MyTeam and gear price hikes have pretty much revealed their true intentions-- certain modes are not meant to be enjoyable or remotely competitive without spending additional money after you've purchased the game at full price. If they are willing to do that with one mode, what other modes are they willing to apply this sort of philosophy to? What's to prevent them from pushing things in that direction with every mode more and more, year to year?

The only thing that will stop whatever/whoever is driving this at 2K is massive pushback and maybe even loss of sales (which would be unfortunate if it comes to that), but the move this year has revealed that we might not be able to trust the series to continue to provide fair play value and allow reasonable progression in all modes (or worst case, any mode) down the line. 2K management seems extremely willing to test our limits and breaking points for the sake of additional residual profit rather than ensuring we are satisified with the value, balance, and playability of our purchase from day one.

What's funny is that if MyTeam prices were somewhat reasonable, I might have played it more and entertained the thought of dropping 5 bucks to pick up Steph Curry for kicks. Now I likely won't touch the mode and find the idea of buying VC distasteful, as it essentially means I would be spending money to encourage 2K to make my game even less satsifying in more modes next year.

# 20 Smirkin Dirk @ 12/11/13 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadlowe


	VC has secondary effects beyond just skewing the game economy. The only reason why you are limited to 5 saves for MyCareer/MyGM is because of VC. They have to use cloud saves to prevent people from hacking the save files to give themselves free VC. So when the cloud storage runs into errors (as in my case) where the save files become corrupted, the entire game becomes unplayable because of VC. I have a gorgeous $60 game that I cannot play at all. It is patently ridiculous that you have to be online to play MyGM, a fully offline game mode. I have been a loyal 2k customer for 6 years. I will not buy another 2k game until VC goes away outside of MyTeam mode. It has no place in any other game mode.

Great post.

As someone above, said the only way VC goes away is if the losses from customers not buying the game outweigh the money they get from having VC.

No amount of internet whinging will get rid of it.

I wish I could un-buy this game.

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