''NBA 2K20'' is a 2019
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
simulation video game
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...
developed by
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 ...
and published by
2K Sports
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same ...
, based on the National Basketball Association (
NBA). It is the 21st installment in 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 ...
'' franchise, the successor to ''
NBA 2K19'', and the predecessor to ''
NBA 2K21''.
Anthony Davis of the
Los Angeles Lakers is the cover athlete for the regular edition of the game, while
Dwyane Wade is the cover athlete for the 'Legend Edition'. The game is NBA 2K's last 2010s entry.
''NBA 2K20'' was released on September 6, 2019, for
Microsoft Windows,
Nintendo Switch,
PlayStation 4,
Xbox One
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 ...
,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android and on November 18, 2019 for
Google Stadia
Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. The service was to compete with Sony' ...
.
Development and release
''NBA 2K20'' was officially announced in the spring of 2019 with a release date set for September 6, 2019. The covers were revealed on July 1, 2019, though they were both leaked earlier. Although Davis is featured in the game as a member of the Lakers, he wears a generic jersey on the cover because it was released before Davis was officially traded from the
New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis was one of three players on the ''
NBA 2K16
''NBA 2K16'' is a 2015 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the 17th installment in the ''NBA 2K'' franchise and the successor to ''NBA 2K15''. It was released on September 29, 2015 fo ...
'' cover. All three versions of the game had pre-order bonuses. It was released for
Microsoft Windows,
Nintendo Switch,
PlayStation 4,
Xbox One
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 ...
,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android, and
Stadia
Stadia may refer to:
* One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums"
* The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes'').
* Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey
* Stadi ...
.
The
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 ...
and
Xbox One X
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 o ...
will receive special edition
bundles, which will include a digital download of ''NBA 2K20''. A limited version of the game will also be released for Android and iOS.
Gameplay
The player mainly plays NBA games with real-life or customized players and teams; games follow the rules and objectives of NBA games. Several game modes are present and many settings can be customized. Up to six expansion teams can be created and used in both MyLeague and MyGM Modes, with the possibility of a 36-team league, and any team can be relocated and rebranded. If you're creating a team you can download jerseys and teams that people from the NBA community has made.
Along with the current season's teams and players, previous games in the series have featured NBA teams from past eras, such as the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls and the 1985–86 Boston Celtics. ''NBA 2K20'' adds six more such teams, such as the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs.
As with other games in the series, the in-studio pregame and halftime shows are based on the real-life
NBA on TNT
''NBA on TNT'' is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, the sports division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and tel ...
presentations, featuring
Ernie Johnson,
Kenny Smith
Kenneth Smith (born March 8, 1965), nicknamed "the Jet", is an American sports commentator and former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA from 1987 to 1997 as a member of the Sacrame ...
, and
Shaquille O'Neal, with the latter two analysts also appearing as players on the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1994-95 Orlando Magic/2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers/2005-06 Miami Heat, respectively. During games, the announcers are
Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS and the NBA for TNT.
2022 will be his 38th ...
,
Greg Anthony
Gregory Carlton Anthony (born November 15, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst for NBA TV and Turner Sports. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Anthony also cont ...
,
Chris Webber
Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Drafted number one overall by the Orlando Magic, though arguably best known and remembered as the star forward for the Sacramento Ki ...
,
Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to:
Academics
* Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager
* Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...
,
Clark Kellogg
Clark Clifton Kellogg Jr. (born July 2, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player who is the lead college basketball analyst for CBS Sports. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Indiana Pacers.
Basketbal ...
, and
Doris Burke
Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for NBA on ESPN, NBA on ABC, College Basketball on ESPN, and College Basketball on ABC games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG, and has worked on New Yor ...
, with
David Aldridge
David Aldridge (born ) is an American sports journalist who works as a writer for ''The Athletic''. He was previously a reporter for Turner Sports, contributing to their NBA and MLB coverage. Other outlets that Aldridge has written and contrib ...
as the sideline reporters.
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...
has not been added to the halftime show.
For the first time ever in the ''NBA 2K'' series, all twelve teams from the
WNBA are included; however, they can be only used in Play Now (one-game exhibition) and single-season modes. It includes
Candace Parker
Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Ang ...
as well as other WNBA All-Stars. You cannot create rosters for the WNBA teams.
A staple of the series, MyCareer, returns as one of the available game modes. MyCareer is a career mode in which the player creates their own customizable basketball player and plays through their basketball career. The mode features a storyline (with the voices of actors including
Idris Elba
Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor. ,
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include ''He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...
,
Thomas Middleditch
Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series '' Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award ...
,
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...
,
Ernie Hudson
Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the '' Ghostbusters'' film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in '' The Crow'' (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003) ...
and
Lamorne Morris) which plays out as the player competes in games as well as off-court activities. The creation tools have been overhauled. The Neighborhood also returns to MyCareer in which players can customize their wardrobe, get haircuts and tattoos, and purchase power-ups. They can also do their workouts and run drills to improve their attributes at their current team's practice facility. You gain more attributes when a Hall of Famer visits your practice facility
The game's returning MyGM and MyLeague game modes, which task the player with managing all basketball operations for a specific team, were a point of emphasis during development. MyGM is more focused on realism, whereas MyLeague offers more customization options. MyGM mode attempts to introduce more cutscene-style interactions than previous games in an attempt to give the mode a storyline, which is dubbed My GM 2.0.
''NBA 2K20'' again, for the eighth time in the series, features MyTeam mode, a mode based around the idea of building the ultimate basketball team and maintaining a virtual trading card collection. Players assemble and play with their team in basketball tournament-style competitions against other players' teams in several formats. Assets for a team are acquired through various means, including randomized card packs and the auction house. Virtual Currency (VC) is used extensively in the mode. Triple Threat Offline is changed to a ladder format where you accumulate wins to earn prizes. Domination is also changed, you now have to earn 5 stars in a division/section to advance to the next division/section, and each team now has three difficulties to choose from, the harder the difficulty, the more stars you get.
Reception
Pre-release
The official trailer for ''NBA 2K20''s MyTeam mode, which allows players to buy content with real-world money, received criticism for its revealing of minigames styled as real-world gambling such as
pachinko
is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...
and
slot machines
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine ( Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively ...
,
roulette wheels, ball-drop games, and the opening of randomized card packs. While some of the mechanics had been introduced to the series prior, critics felt that featuring them in a single trailer was "more in-your-face" and noted they were emphasized over showing gameplay of basketball matches. Some also called the trailer "tone-deaf", due to being released at a time when
loot boxes
In video games, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or loot, ranging from simple customization options for a player ...
had become highly
scrutinized and regulated under governing bodies and 2K had made changes to NBA 2K19 to comply with new laws, despite 2K asserting at the time that they did not consider loot boxes as gambling. The trailer was made unlisted on YouTube shortly after by 2K.
In response to the outcry that such mechanics were included in a game rated ages 3 and up,
Pan European Game Information
PEGI () or Pan-European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descripto ...
(PEGI) stated that as the title had not yet been released, only its trailer could be assessed. They found that the featured casino-like mechanics to select items by chance did not fit the criteria for a gambling label, as the game "must actually teach ... and/or encourage the player to want to gamble or bet for money in real life". However, PEGI noted that "we are very aware that it may get too close for comfort for some people", and said that due to such changes in an evolving industry, "we need to ensure that these developments are reflected in our classification criteria."
Post-release
''NBA 2K20'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
In its 7.8/10 review,
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
wrote: "''NBA 2K20'' would have been better off by focusing on its complex modes like MyLeague and cleaning up MyTeam to be less dependent on microtransactions. In spite of that, ''NBA 2K20'' remains the best at what it does. It just might be time to ask for better."
[ '' Game Revolution'' gave the game 4.5 out of 5, writing: "''NBA 2K20''s fantastic feel on the courts and how its main modes work as advertised are the most important parts. Some of the secondary additions might be lacking when compared to the polish seen in the new cinematic story mode, but they still serve their purpose to flesh out the package."][
The game topped the European download sales charts.]
Awards
References
External links
*
{{NBA 2K series
2019 video games
2K Sports games
Android (operating system) games
IOS games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
NBA 2K
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games
Stadia games
Take-Two Interactive games
Video games containing loot boxes
Video game controversies
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in 2019
Video games set in 2020
Windows games
Xbox One games