2K Sports is set to release NBA 2K20 on Sept. 6, and fans are excited to see what they do with the series this year. Surprisingly, 2K rebounded from the disaster that was 2K18 and actually provided a serviceable product with 2K19. They knew they’d continue to lose fans to games like Fortnite and Apex Legends if they ignored the 2K community’s demands, so they wisely made some improvements.
Still, 2K19 was by no means a perfect game. I hope that 2K once again prioritizes the quality of its game over their own financial gain this year. They can make their fans happy once again by making some of the following changes for 2K20.
1. Better Servers
If there’s one thing every 2K player agrees on, it’s that the game needs better servers. There is no more frustrating feeling than getting kicked out of a Park game because of a poor connection to 2K’s servers. Even the latency that players experience in Park and other game modes like Pro-Am and MyTeam detracts from their experience and makes them less likely to play the game the next time they log on. Considering the fact that 2K sells millions of copies of this game every year, there’s no reason for them to put off the server problem any longer.
2. Fewer (Or No) Microtransactions
2K’s reliance on microtransactions is ironic considering the focus they’ve placed on making money instead of providing the optimal user experience over the past few years. While microtransactions provide another revenue stream for 2K, they also turn away more casual fans of the game who aren’t willing to fork over additional money after paying $60 for their copy. It currently costs around $40 to buy enough VC (virtual currency) to upgrade a player from 60 to 86 overall. That system rewards those players willing to buy their way to the top instead of those willing to improve their player by actually playing the game. It creates an environment where a new user has two choices: pay to upgrade their player, or struggle to even find teammates willing to play with them.
The microtransactions carry over to MyTeam as well, where fans essentially play Russian Roulette by spending high amounts of VC (and therefore money) on packs that rarely have favorable odds to land the high-level cards. 2K20 would be much better off without any microtransactions, but at the very least 2K could decrease VC prices and remove those ever-present ads for VC from the Neighborhood.
3. Private Parks and Private Pro-Am
2K players can match up privately to play each other’s MyTeams, but they can’t do so in the Park or Pro-Am modes. That doesn’t make sense. 2K needs to provide an option for Park squads and Pro-Am teams to match up in private games. It would eliminate issues like fighting over spots in a crowded park to play friends or constantly failing to match up with a rival team in Pro-Am. Players would no longer have to endure long wait times for games, and they wouldn’t have to worry about the distraction of other games being played nearby any more.
4. Make the Game Serious Again
With 2K19, 2K attempted to make a game that was more appealing to casual players and had more of an “arcade” feel to it. However, they ended up going overboard. Most players don’t care about features like the cages, or dodgeball, or trivia. They just want to play basketball. Instead of adding more features that aren’t strictly basketball-related, 2K should focus on improving their core game modes: Park, Pro-Am, and MyTeam.
Park players would really appreciate things like new Park affiliations, more Park events, updates to the Neighborhood as an environment, and the elimination of unrealistic animations like shoving. MyTeam players would undoubtedly go for updates like the elimination of contracts and an overall reduction in pack prices. And Pro-Am players would enjoy the game more if adjustments were made to temper the power of a player’s takeover and to decrease the invincibility of overpowered builds like Stretch Bigs and Post Scorers.
5. Put The Fans First
Recently, 2K made headlines when they began placing unskippable ads for products unrelated to the game in loading screens. Previously, 2K had only placed ads for 2KTV in loading screens, and they were always skippable. Thankfully, 2K received a lot of justified backlash for this move. Fans who paid $60 for the game didn’t feel like they should be forced to watch ads in it, and rightfully so. Moving forward, we can only hope that 2K will listen to the negative feedback they received and think twice before adding this feature or any similar cash-grab attempt in 2K20.
I enjoyed 2K19, and I’m optimistic about 2K20. While there are other improvements I’d like to see in the newest version of the game (like ranked Parks), these are the most pressing at the moment. Above all, 2K needs to put its fans before its greed in order for 2K20 to be a success.
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