Source: BeanzGotGamez / Ronnie 2K / NBA 2K25
Do you smell that? No, it’s not the return of the NFL, but it’s almost time to hit the virtual hardwood when NBA 2K25 arrives. After the game’s release, HHW Gaming got to speak with Ronnie 2K.
Since the first virtual basketball bounced in 1999’s NBA 2K on the Sega Dreamcast, the basketball video game franchise from Visual Concepts published by 2K Sports has become a behemoth that’s not by accident.
Now the premiere basketball video game after EA Sports bowed out with its NBA Live franchise, NBA 2K went on to not only be a place to take your favorite NBA franchise to championship glory but has grown to become more than just a video game where you play basketball. It is also a cultural phenomenon that literally funds streaming careers.
The team at Visual Concepts is well aware of the community’s importance to the success of the annual video game, and since then, it has held 2K Community Day events.
Community Day has since grown in scale as the player base of the game’s online component ballooned, becoming one of the most popular modes in the game.
HHW Gaming attended the 12th iteration of 2K Community Day, where press and 100 popular NBA 2K content creators converged on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to get hands-on with NBA 2K25.
We spoke with Ronnie 2K, 2K Games’ Digital Marketing Director, and NBA 2K’s social media voice about the importance of 2K Community Day, overall ratings, and more.
HHW Gaming: Okay. Why is Community Day crucial to NBA 2K’s development each year?
Ronnie 2K: Yeah, I mean the people that play our game and have lifted up with the content. I want them to be part of the process; I think that was the genesis of why we introduced Community Day. The development team wanted to hear from the people. I mean, you get it on social media, but to have those real-life interactions and really be able to, you know, separate noise from real, uh, you know, feedback. There’s no better place to do that than right here. So, we are getting these guys to dive deep, and we still have a couple of weeks to tweak if we need to. It seems like everybody’s really happy with what’s going on here. So maybe not too much tweaking, but just having the opportunity to get this group who loves our game, the opportunity to put the news out there, be part of the process, and be part of the content stream. But you know, I think that was the genesis, and it worked really well. We’ve done it for 12 years, and I don’t see an end to it.
Regarding presentation, NBA 2K is second to none. There isn’t a sports video game on the planet that comes close to this franchise. That’s also the case with the online community. How does the team determine what to bring to the MyPlayer mode, keeping it fresh while keeping the community happy?
Ronnie 2K: Again, I think it’s allowing them to be part of the process and be heard. I think we do a great job innovating, like you said, better than any other annualized sports title, but probably annualized title in general. We take that feedback seriously; we are our own competitors. We want to innovate as rapidly as we can and try to make things happen. Do we get everything right? No. But we do our absolute best to, you know, be the company of the fan, and I could say that being a fan of the brand before I started obviously working here 17 years ago, We really want our fans to feel like a community and feel part of the process and feel heard. It’s super important for us.
Overall ratings in NBA 2K have become very important. NBA 2K Ratings have taken on a life of their own to the point they are getting shown on sports networks like ESPN. Why do you think the NBA players care so much about their virtual ratings?
Ronnie 2K: I think It’s a couple of things like one. They played it their whole lives, right? This game is our 26th NBA 2K, and a lot of guys are coming into the league. They’re under 26, so they’ve played it their whole life. So it’s a badge of honor to be in the game like be drafted and make it to the game that you play all these years and aspire to be in. Not even the current generation but the past generation, which we put the legends in there and allow you to kind of live up to them. So I think that’s part of it. And then, they’re competitors, right? And like in competition, you’re gonna want to be the best, and it’s a benchmark that a lot of people take seriously fans and everybody, our community, to have against your peers. So, I know that locker room top is not maybe about the number, but it’s about how you stack up against people that play your position or similar play style or what have you. I think that’s why it’s it’s so controversial every year and fires up these guys in a way that you just wouldn’t expect
Has any player hit you up already this year with about their rating?
Ronnie 2K: I don’t think we’re gonna get a lot of that until we wrap up because I think the comparative thing, We’re up to our top 30. I believe that we still have to reveal, so I think that’s where it’s gonna get a little spicy, especially that top 10. I mean, the top 11, the top 11 guys, I think you can make a case that any of them should be top three. Like and I legitimately I really mean that. It’s it’s a tough, the upper tier of NBA player right now is at a level that We just haven’t seen before. So, it’s gonna be spicy because there’s a lot of argument about it, but that’s great for us, right?
Absolutely. The WNBA has become a staple of the game since NBA 2k20, and it’s more popular than ever this year. With the arrival of Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and their rookie class, and most recently, Team USA Women’s basketball bringing home the gold at the Paris Olympics, do you think that popularity will transfer to the game and bring in more players to the W Mode?
Ronnie 2K: Totally. You see the growth that they’ve had in their media and watch time, and all their numbers are through the roof. We fully expect that to be translated to our game too. We were on it early, right? We’ve had female cover stars for several years, and we’ve integrated them through the W in various steps as an annualized title. We can’t do everything in one year, but being able to grow the game alongside it, I mean our wonderful partnership with the WNBA and NBPA, it’s really led to the development in the early thoughts on being able to play in the forest that you probably saw with 3v3, like kind of that Park style is super cool and like people are really excited about it. Then, you know, we’ll just continue to evolve and find out from their players what’s important to them, and we’ll continue to grow just like we do on the men’s side, it’s we’re looking for, you know, as much parity as we can offer within the capacity of what we’re doing.
Our favorite addition this year to NBA 2K25 is Learn 2K. NBA 2K has not only improved graphically over the years but technically as well. The gameplay has become a little complicated. Yeah. So why do you think, why did you have to feel now? It’s time. They introduced a more comprehensive tutorial.
Ronnie 2K: It’s not only that I was one of my favorite features is the, the risk/reward thing, right? Being able to be rewarded if you’re really good and get greens, pretty naturally, figure out shot release timing for a certain build or whatever. We need to walk that balance, like we want to reward the 100 content creators here and all the competitor players, people have blood, sweat, and tears in 2K. But we also need to be able to, you know, please people that are jumping in for the first time or are, you know, play a little bit more casually with their friends and family. And I think that is the perfect line. Like, we’ll put it in the hands of the player. Like, if you want to be competitive, go do that.
NBA 2K25 introduces Learn 2K, a revamped tutorial mode with beginner-friendly minigames 🏀
Full hands-on report: https://t.co/k5qN2wGjss pic.twitter.com/4XoNAOHoMd
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 27, 2024
Learn 2K can be used as a device to get you to whatever level you want, right? Like, if you want to be a dribble god, we have what you need in there. If you want to just be able to be functional, we have what you need in there. We’re allowing the user to take the power into their own hands to be as good as they want to be or be able to just play and feel like they’re involved in the community and can, you know, compete naturally. We have to think about all of our community and it’s huge now, right? I think that’s why we’re introducing it now versus past years. It’s just like we probably have this cross divide of people who played it for 26 years and then people who are coming in there for the first couple of years. It’s something we have to consider.
NBA 2K25 launches on September 6 on consoles and PC.
