Sports
The official NBA game is once again stiffing PC players – PC Gamer
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Technical foul.
2K Games has detailed some features of the upcoming NBA2K24, but the biggest and most disappointing for PC players is that, yep, we’re getting the version made for the PS4 and Xbox One generation of consoles. 2K didn’t come right out and say this, but the devil’s in the detail of its big pitch for this year’s entry: crossplay. Except, get this, only the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X versions will actually have this new feature.
This can be seen in an official NBA2K24 FAQ, and there’s further confirmation in this trailer, which is all about crossplay before it specifies “new gen” only at the end.
Short of 2K CEO Strauss Zelnick personally phoning up every PC gamer and shouting “fuck off!” down the phone, that’s as close to a confirmation as the publisher will give. And it’s not an enormous surprise because 2K’s been treating the PC audience like fools for years now, with this becoming the third of its NBA titles to ship the technically inferior version on the platform. Once could be a mistake, twice looks like carelessness, but a third time? That’s contempt, your honor.
2K is alone now in persisting with this nonsense. EA did much the same with FIFA for a few years, leading to the all-timer of an excuse that it didn’t want to exclude anyone from the PC version, but even that lot managed to get their act together by last year’s FIFA 23. Obviously the glory of PCs is that they do come in all shapes and specs, so publishers will legitimately look to hit the lowest minimum spec possible to maximise the audience, but it feels beyond absurd that 2K’s withholding an existing shinier version because it can’t be bothered to commit to the optimisation work. I mean, these are the official NBA games: I think they might shift a few copies.
2K also announced that NBA2K24 cover star would be the late Kobe Bryant, with various versions of the game available including a Black Mamba edition (Bryant’s chosen nickname). The game is due to launch September 8. But for PC players NBA2K24 feels, once again, like a total airball.
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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years’ experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as “[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike.”
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