2K is an American

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

based in

Novato, California Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

. 2K was founded under

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of

Visual Concepts Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the ''2K'' franchise, most recently ''NBA 2K'' and '' WWE 2K'', and pr ...

that same month. Originally based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, it moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and Phil Dixon as

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

. A motion capture studio for 2K is based in

Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village na ...

History

On January 24, 2005,

announced that it had acquired

, including its

Kush Games 2K Los Angeles (formerly Kush Games, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Camarillo, California. Founded by Umrao Mayer in 1998, the company was part of Visual Concepts, which itself was a part of Sega. Both Kush Games and Visual ...

subsidiary and the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

of the ''2K'' sports-game series, from Sega for million. The following day Take-Two Interactive established the 2K publishing label, consisting of the sub-labels 2K Games and 2K Sports, with the latter focusing on sports games. Several of Take-Two Interactive's development studios—Visual Concepts, Kush Games,

Indie Built Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the '' Beach Head'', '' Links'' and ''Tex Murphy'' series, as well as ''Ra ...

Venom Games Venom Games Limited was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. The studio was established by Peter Johnson in 2003 and succeeded Rage Newcastle. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company in 2004, where it became part of t ...

PopTop Software PopTop Software Inc. was an American video game developer based in Fenton, Missouri. The company was founded in 1993 by Phil Steinmeyer, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in July 2000, became part of the 2K label in January 2005, and was closed ...

, and

Frog City Software Frog City Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 1994 by Rachel Bernstein, Bill Spieth and Ted Spieth, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2003, became part of the 2K ...

—became studios of 2K, and

Take-Two Licensing TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America. TDK Mediactive Europe TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Europ ...

was merged into the new label. On January 21, 2006, a fire heavily damaged the administration and marketing portions of 2K's offices. In June 2007 2K announced that they had closed their offices in New York City and would move to a new location on the West Coast, namely

. On September 10, 2007, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had struck a partnership with

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

on publishing games based on their licenses. Alongside this announcement, Take-Two Interactive introduced a third 2K label, 2K Play, to focus on

casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...

s. Through this opening, 2K absorbed all assets of Take-Two Interactive's budget-range publisher

Global Star Software Global Star Software was a Canadian video game publisher based in Mississauga. It was founded in 1995 by Craig McGauley and Damian Cristiani and operated alongside their Triad Distributors, which had been founded in 1993. Both companies were acqu ...

, including the game ''

Carnival Games A carnival game is a game of chance or skill that can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement arcade and amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway. They are also commonly played on holidays such as Mardi Gras, ...

'', the studio

Cat Daddy Games Cat Daddy Games is an American video game developer and a studio of 2K based in Kirkland, Washington. It was founded in the Seattle area by Ryan Haveson, Harley Howe, and Patrick Wilkinson after leaving Microsoft's games division in March 1996. ...

, and games based on ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a. ...

''. In 2013, 2K obtained the rights to publish video games based on the

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

company,

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

. On May 4, 2017, 2K's co-founder and until-then

, Christoph Hartmann, announced that he had stepped down from his position. Hartmann had worked for Take-Two Interactive for roughly 20 years, but did not state a reason for his departure. He later joined Amazon Game Studios in August 2018. He was succeeded by previous

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

(COO) David Ismailer later in May 2017. The role of COO was filled by Phil Dixon, formerly of

Betfair Betfair is a British gambling company which operates the world's largest online betting exchange. Its product offering also includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Founded in 2000, the business is split int ...

, in November 2017, and Melissa Bell was hired as

senior vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

and head of global marketing in April 2018. On September 25, 2018, 2K announced 2K Foundations, a program that would "support underserved communities across the nation by refurbishing basketball courts in neighborhoods that need them the most".

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

will also partner with 2K to establish

Xbox One S The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

gaming-stations at these courts. 2K Foundations planned to refurbish 12 basketball courts in several cities across the United States (including

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

) within its first year. 2K acquired

HB Studios HB Studios Multimedia Limited is a Canadian video game developer based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is best known for its rugby and cricket games. History HB Studios was founded in early July 2000 by Jeremy Wellard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia ...

in March 2021, who previously developed ''

The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour ''The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour'' is a sports video game developed by HB Studios and published by 2K Sports for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the third installment of the '' PGA Tour 2K'' series, the first in the ...

'' and '' PGA Tour 2K21'' under the 2K Sports' publishing label. The acquisition includes the rights to HB's ''Golf Club'' series, which has since relaunched as the '' PGA Tour 2K'' series, and is now officially licensed by the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

itself. Additionally, 2K announced they had secured a contract with

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

, who had previously been a key figure for

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

' own ''

'' series, as an executive director and consultant for future 2K ''PGA Tour'' games as well as his likeness for the games. Also in March 2021, 2K acquired the games division of HookBang based in Austin, Texas, which had supported work on the ''

NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball ...

'' series in the past. The division was relocated to a new Austin location and rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin to continue support for that series. In September 2022, 2K's support team was hacked. In October 2022, 2K confirmed their user data was stolen and placed on sale.

Studios

* 2K Madrid in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain; founded in June 2021. * 2K Chengdu in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

, China; founded in June 2011. * 2K Vegas in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, U.S.; founded in 2006 as 2K West, rebranded in 2013. *

31st Union 31st Union is a video game development studio of 2K based in San Mateo, California, with a studio in Valencia, Spain. It was founded in February 2019, then provisionally named 2K Silicon Valley, with Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Cond ...

in San Mateo, California, U.S. and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain; founded in 2019 as 2K Silicon Valley, rebranded in 2020. *

in Kirkland, Washington, U.S.; founded in 1996, acquired in 2003. *

Cloud Chamber A cloud chamber, also known as a Wilson cloud chamber, is a particle detector used for visualizing the passage of ionizing radiation. A cloud chamber consists of a sealed environment containing a supersaturated vapour of water or alcohol. An ...

, U.S. and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada; founded in 2019. *

Firaxis Games Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meier's earlier venture. They were ...

Hunt Valley, Maryland Hunt Valley is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the Maryland Hunt Cup Steeplechase. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along York Road (Maryland Route 45), parallel to Interstat ...

, U.S.; founded in 1996, acquired in 2005. *

Hangar 13 Hangar 13 is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, in the area of the former Hamilton Air Force Base. Established with Haden Blackman in December 2014 as a division of 2K (a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive), ...

, U.S., Brno and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, Czech Republic, and Brighton, England; founded in 2014. *

in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Canada; founded in 2000, acquired in 2021. *

, U.S.; founded in 1988, acquired in 2005.

Defunct

2K Australia 2K Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Irrational Games Australia Pty. Ltd.) was an Australian video game developer based in Canberra. The company was founded as Irrational Games Australia, a subsidiary of Irrational Games, in April 2000. Irrational G ...

in Canberra, Australia; founded in 2000, acquired in 2006, closed in 2015. * 2K China in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China; founded in May 2006, closed in November 2015. *

2K Czech 2K Czech, s.r.o. (formerly Illusion Softworks, a.s.) was a Czech video game developer based in Brno. Founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and sub ...

in Brno, Czech Republic; founded in 1997, acquired in 2008, merged into Hangar 13 in 2017. * 2K Hangzhou in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

, China; founded in 2007, closed in November 2016. * 2K Los Angeles in Camarillo, California, U.S.; founded as Kush Games in 1998, acquired in 2005, closed in 2008. *

2K Marin K, or k, is the eleventh letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''kay'' (pronounced ), plural ''kays''. The letter K ...

, U.S.; founded in 2007, closed in 2013. *

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, U.S.; founded in 1994, acquired in 2003, closed in 2006. *

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, U.S.; founded as Access Software in 1982, acquired and renamed in 2004, closed in 2006. *

Irrational Games Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired t ...

Westwood, Massachusetts Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,266 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History Westwood was first settled in 1641 and was part of the town of Dedham, originally called 'West De ...

, U.S.; founded in 1997, acquired in 2006, closed in 2017 and succeeded by

Ghost Story Games Ghost Story Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Westwood, Massachusetts, and led by Ken Levine. The studio is the rebranding of Irrational Games as announced in February 2017, and while still the same business subsidiary und ...

. * PAM Development in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France; founded in 1995, acquired in 2005, closed in 2008. *

in Fenton, Missouri, U.S.; founded in 1993, acquired in 2000, merged into Firaxis Games in 2006. *

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England; founded in 2003, acquired in 2004, closed in 2008.

Games published

Franchises and series

* ''BioShock'' (since 2007) * ''Borderlands'' (since 2009) * ''Civilization'' (since 2005) * ''Mafia'' (since 2010) * ''X-COM'' (since 2012)

2K Sports

Current

* ''

'' (since 2005) * '' PGA Tour 2K'' (since 2018) * ''

WWE 2K ''WWE 2K'', formerly released as ''WWF/E SmackDown!'' and ''SmackDown vs. Raw'', is a series of professional wrestling sports video games that launched in 2000. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of professional wrestling, and mo ...

'' (since 2013)

Former

* ''College Hoops 2K'' (2005–2007) ** ''

College Hoops 2K6 ''College Hoops 2K6'' is an American college basketball video game which was initially released on November 21, 2005 for the Xbox and later released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. It is the first installment of the series to appear on a seventh ...

'' ** ''

College Hoops 2K7 ''College Hoops 2K7'' is an American college basketball video game initially released on November 20, 2006 for the Xbox and Xbox 360 and released later for the PlayStation 2 (December 11) and PlayStation 3 (March 13, 2007). It is the 5th installm ...

'' ** ''

College Hoops 2K8 ''College Hoops 2K8'' is a video game by Visual Concepts and 2K Sports. It was released on November 19, 2007 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3. The cover features Greg Oden, formerly of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Almost every sc ...

'' * ''MLB 2K'' (2005–2013) * ''

NHL 2K ''NHL 2K'' was a series of hockey games developed by Visual Concepts. It was published by Sega Sports from 2000 to 2004, and 2K Sports from 2005 to 2014. The games are officially licensed from the National Hockey League and NHL Players Association ...

'' (2005–2014) * ''

Top Spin In ball sports, topspin or overspin is a property of a ball that rotates forwards as it is moving. Topspin on a ball propelled through the air imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, due to its interaction with the air (see Magnu ...

'' (2005–2011)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2005 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 2005 Companies based in Marin County, California Novato, California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies based in California Video game companies established in 2005 Video game companies of the United States Video game publishers Video game publishing brands