Video summary
The video begins by addressing the disappointing sales figures for NBA 2K22, which sold approximately eight million units compared to fourteen million for its predecessor, NBA 2K20. Despite this significant drop, the game still maintains a daily active player base of around 1.9 million, though the narrator questions whether these numbers are inflated by counting current and next-gen versions separately or including mobile sales. The core argument presented is that while the game's traditional sales trajectory has stalled, the company is compensating through increased revenue from microtransactions and mobile platforms, which have grown substantially year-over-year. This financial shift suggests that 2K is prioritizing profit over pure unit sales, leading to a situation where fewer players are buying the base game but spending more money within it, effectively changing the nature of the product's success metrics.
A major portion of the discussion focuses on the toxic history of the NBA 2K community and recent legal challenges regarding loot boxes. The narrator highlights a class-action lawsuit alleging that the payment schemes in NBA 2K22 psychologically distance players from the reality of spending real money, framing it as illegal gambling. While acknowledging the addictive nature of these mechanics, the speaker expresses skepticism about government intervention, fearing a slippery slope where legislation could lead to excessive censorship of video games, such as removing violence or blood. This context sets the stage for the game's current state, where the community is divided between those who accept the monetization model and those who feel the game's integrity is being compromised for short-term financial gain.
The transcript also covers the return of prominent content creator AgentBeam to the scene after a brief hiatus, noting that his comeback signals a potential thaw in the previously fractured community. A significant positive development identified is the migration of major current-generation players and content creators to next-gen consoles, which helps unify the player base and reduces the friction caused by version splits. This convergence makes the game more social again, aligning it with titles like Call of Duty and GTA V. Furthermore, rumors suggest that EA is working on a new basketball title, possibly involving college sports, which could indicate a future resurgence in interest if they can successfully replicate their past NCAA games.
In conclusion, the video offers a cautiously optimistic outlook for the franchise's future despite its current struggles. The narrator believes that the combination of a unified player base across generations and the potential release of a new title could revitalize the series, especially since 2K has hired a new development team specifically for the current generation. However, there is an underlying warning that holding out hope for major changes from 2K is often futile given their profit-driven motives. The final message encourages viewers to keep their expectations low and enjoy the game while it lasts, acknowledging that while the numbers are concerning, the community's resilience and the upcoming transition to next-gen hardware provide a glimmer of hope for a better experience in future iterations.
Read the full video transcript
i've been waiting so long for this
moment right here the numbers are
finally in we know how good of a game
nba 2k20 is at least as it comes to
sales look if y'all new to the channel
subscribe if you're watching this video
click the like button it's great right
now when you click it it's turning blue
your finger's gonna vibrate it's a
fantastic tingly sensation you should
try it holy look you don't have to look
too far in 2k community to know that not
many people are a fan of 2k 22. like i
didn't think it could get worse from 2k
21 but it managed to some content
credits is up and left they just walked
away they left like this and others just
stopped uploading others is like slowing
down pace overall people are just
unhappy but it depends who you ask i've
talked to newer 2k gamers that love the
game or like it's high but when you talk
to the people that play the city or park
or pro-am and they play nba 2k22 they've
been playing for a while they hate the
game who knows what the reason is but
the numbers are finally in this got me
really excited nba 2k 22 has 1.9 million
gamers playing daily now at over 8
million units sold look we'll get to
that 1.9 number in a minute but what yo
that would literally if we're just
ranking the 2ks and we skedaddle over to
vg charts put nba 2k 22 at the seventh
best-selling 2k of all time which if you
think about it's not that bad except
that that's a huge steep fall off from
all the other more recent
well-performing 2ks and the crazy part
is i'm fairly confident that they're
counting the current gen and the next
gen version as two different units here
so when they say 14 million units sold
of 2k20 you buy the cross bundle version
of the game and you have the current gen
and the next gen that's two separate
games i wouldn't even be surprised if
they included mobile sales like i i
don't know it's like it's like it's like
an artist bundling in their album sales
with like merch or tours right it just
inflates the numbers a little bit so the
investors are happy everybody gets a
nice little ego boost so there's a good
chance that the alarm bells are ringing
pretty loud right now at the 2k
headquarters or maybe they're not
tripping the reality is is now they're
making more money than ever off mobile
but beyond that they're also making a
ton more money off micro transactions so
even if less people are buying the game
if the people that buy the game are
spending more kind of evens out but
let's get back to this 1.9 million
number i can't imagine it doesn't
include mobile gamers because there's no
way on the planet two million
people are getting together every day to
play nba 2k 22. there just isn't bro
that's competing with some of the most
popular games on consoles in general the
numbers have to either be cherry picked
inflated in somehow which way like maybe
when 2k had like a very big event or
maybe these like the first week after
launch there's just no way you're
convincing me 2k is like blowing games
like csgo out the water i don't believe
it so including the mobile people maybe
i don't know what their mobile numbers
are looking like i don't play the mobile
versions of the game it's possible but
man is 1.9 million you just impressive
and that's really all they have to do is
impress the investors enough so that
they don't panic because when you hear 8
million in sales and you know 2k20 sold
14 million in sales you might want to
panic a little bit they also mentioned
that recurrent consumer spending grew 10
year-over-year which means that people
are spending more on micro transactions
so like i said the people that buy the
game just happen to be spending more i
was reading one of the articles i was
reporting on this look how much sucking
there is going on based on their sales
for 2021 2k 22 did almost everything
right as we continue through season four
and season five we should see even more
updates brought to the game they did
everything right really this is why like
sometimes like i with people who
keep it a buck bro but man you're not
keeping it a buck come on what game ever
does anything right let alone a 2k game
really they did everything right when
they added more micro transactions or
they they reintroduced the city they ran
that back they did it everything right
right they did everything right the way
the game was barely operating the first
two weeks of the game's launch or
there'd be huge hang-ups in the story
mode where you couldn't just i love how
they did everything right there come on
man just keep it a buck just say they
did plenty wrong they did some good
stuff too the reason i've been waiting
for these moments maybe some people just
don't care their numbers it really
doesn't matter but you have to think 2k
is motivated by profit we all know this
we've been known this for the past what
five six years so if we know that and we
know that 2k has uh
hush i say this is not making as much
money or is not selling as much game or
their trajectory is no longer upwards
you could see why they might want to
react what's the word when you do
something real rash point is for once
they might actually be willing to make
some of the changes we've been asking
for because if everything is going great
why the would they change the
formula it's going great so who knows i
remember reading uh one of the nba two i
was watching the long ass video it's
like a one hour stream from one of the
nba 2k developers and they said that the
first year of a next generation game
there's usually a lot of new technology
that they don't know how to grasp yet by
the second year they're fine-tuning
things and they're getting there but by
the third year they have everything down
so maybe 2k 23 is the year where things
finally change but holding out hope is a
fool's game it's 2k at the end of the
day you hold out hope and they'll crush
you like this bro man that's the one
franchise you should not hold out hope
for just keep your expectations real low
and then no matter what they do it'll
impress you i don't know if ea was
smelling blood in the water we'll talk
about what they've been up to in a
little bit but before we do yo look
agent beam started made a triumphant
return on the last episode right yeah
bro
it's been a minute since he's been on
the channel we talked about power df
situation how his whole clan disbanded
well turns out he's back after
deactivating his account for maybe like
a week he started posting on twitter
saying minor setback for a major
comeback none of this beef changes the
fact that i'm the best 2k player to ever
touch this community psa if you used to
be in df i'm hunting you you can't run
you can't hide i'm coming for you on 2k
guys chill i said in my video bro like
at the end of the day i'm not one for
canceling nobody he's a l friend an l
man's for sure i'd argue potentially a
bad human being in general but bro chill
out community was acting like he just
like massacred like a community of human
beings or something like there's levels
to how frustrated you should be
depending on the crime that was
committed in reality bro people stuck
around the clan for a long ass time
because they had something to gain so
that should speak to people's intentions
regardless of the fact it seems like
maybe everybody in that clan was out for
themselves but regardless these are all
assumptions and none of my business
whether or not you wish the best for
power or you hope his career can fails
and dies is up to you but what i do know
is 2k has been historically one of the
most toxic communities and let's be
honest guys the past three to four years
has been pretty positive because it was
bad in 2k16 2k15 in two cases man just
the type of i remember seeing
people getting doxed and slotted left
and right people's channels getting
hacked and psn's getting terminated yeah
bro i i will never forget the type that
people do to each other just for fun
because they were bored so comparatively
man it is what it is mike if you don't
like his energy stay away from him but i
thought it was an interesting story look
bro it gets interesting for nba 2k 22
because it's not often somebody decides
to take action but this parent decided
to because i read this headline saying
class action lawsuit targets nba 2k's
micro transactions i remember reading an
article that like i think germany or one
of the countries in europe decided to
ban loot boxes and like that in
video games but this parent is taking it
in his or her own hands they say the
case went from state court to federal
court and there's allegations of unfair
deceptive and unlawful practices
including illegal gambling practices but
bro whether or not you believe it's
illegal gambling i think that most apps
you play most websites you're on most
video games you play most any form of
entertainment is trying to hook you i
try to hook you at the beginning of this
video so you watch the rest of the video
it's one thing when it's a child because
they're not aware of this stuff but if
you're a grown ass adult getting baited
that's on you this parent is just like i
guess maybe just a lawyer real litigious
the likelihood something comes out of
this is very low and i'm not even one
for the gambling stuff in video games i
personally think there's no place for it
i think gta 4 opened the doors when
people started paying money for dlc and
they popularized the out of it like
it was great dlc so people started
spending money and then it clicked for
all the developers and publishers we
could just charge people after the games
launch it doesn't have to be like a
one-time money earning thing you can
make money throughout the life cycle of
the game and i think that that's a
fantastic strategy for monetizing a
product but sometimes it comes at the
cost of the game and nba 2k is one of
those examples where the way it's
formatted it comes at the cost of the
game itself which is crazy to think
about like you're compromising the
integrity of the game to make money that
literally is the short term strat if i
ever seen it you're pushing the
boundaries in ways you shouldn't and
we've talked about the micro transaction
things more times than i can counsel
what's the point but the suit states
that nba 2k 22's payment scheme
psychologically distances players from
the reality of spending royal money
because you're spending vc you're not
spending us dollars right or canadian
dollars or rubles or rupees
some of you guys have rupees this is
only interesting because i think it's
only a matter of time before some
legislator puts up some sort of
legislation to finally do something
about the loot boxes in video games but
in my humble opinion i'd rather they
didn't because i don't trust the people
that y'all vote for in this country of
america and i feel like it's a slippery
slope before they start finding other
things they want to amend in
entertainment right there's no shortage
of legislators that are trying
to convince me that video games is bad
for people or that it influences them
negatively and while there are plenty of
awful influences in video games you
trying to convince me because i shot
somebody in call of duty that i'll be
more likely to do irl not only do
studies not support it but jesus can you
imagine if violent video games just
disappeared or started yet to start
censoring them and there's no blood
allowed in video games like these are
all things that can happen so i'd rather
that it just went untouched if you're a
parent just pay attention to what your
child is spending their time on and if
you're an adult hey come on bro you're a
full fledged adult like you can
decide not to spend your money i get it
it's addicting it's gambling i'm not
even saying it's not addictive but at
the same time i would rather not the
slippery slope of legislation ea decided
to throw their hat in the mix because
they're not done teasing whatever
basketball game they're working on bro
like man i've read article after article
for years since they stopped posting nba
live they said they were getting back
into basketball they started to post
some nba 2k's top senior developers and
still we've been hearing very little to
no information until ea posted this
tweet where they said loading madness
loading while if anybody else tweeted
this i think they were just like really
excited about march madness yay also has
been rumored to have been working on
like a college sports game and now that
they can legally do it again they've
done it in the past they seem like the
best people to be able to pull it off
successfully so this almost feels like a
tease in some way but it's been almost a
week since this tweet was posted and
there's been no follow-up cause march
madness is actively going on right now i
thought maybe like there'd be some sort
of like follow-up or maybe like the
trailer of some sort it's just something
but all we have now is some tweets and
maybe it's just ea recognizing that
there's a very popular event maybe if i
post some things they'll get more likes
i don't want to say hold out hope but if
you're a huge fan of college sports and
you like the ncaa games ea used to make
maybe you hold out hope for what it's
worth i've been seeing i refuse to call
it a resurgence but more people enjoying
playing nba 2k 22 is kind of making me
want to hop back on and locate i've been
waiting for the next season i've been
seeing pro and pop and my team pop the
city's still pretty dead but
maybe more importantly and this is like
a key point that i've been seeing people
in the community talk about for the past
few weeks maybe a couple months now it
seems as though a lot of the players
that were on current gen like the
ticinos of the world uh there were a few
others i was watching on twitch call the
man the guys like some of the huge
content creators that prefer to play the
game on current gen have been making a
transition to next gen and that's
important because the one of the biggest
problems we had at the launch of 2k22
was that it felt like the community was
split i had to ask what version of the
game you were playing before i asked
what console were you playing on before
i asked do you want to play with me it's
like all those preliminary questions
make it difficult for you to play with
the people you want to play with in
reality having everybody on one game
makes that easier and then having
crossplay makes it so that it's a very
social game and 2k is designed to be a
social game it's one of the most social
games next like call of duty and gta 5
so why not add features that allow
people to be as social as possible
regardless of the fact i think it's a
good thing that more people are on next
gen and and 2k didn't sell awfully it's
so decent definitely not what i guess
the investors were hoping for so maybe
they do shake something up i'm not
entirely sure what to expect for 2k 23
but because we do know that nba 2k
bought a whole new dev team to work on
current gen we could almost but confirm
that not only will the next gen version
of 2k23 drop but also will a current gen
version which version people decide to
play on launch who knows sad reality is
it's still kind of difficult to get next
generation consoles and even though it's
been like two years since they've
released we're still calling them next
generation that's how hard it is to get
so it's a good thing that at least
there's a decent if not good version of
the game a comparable version of the
game on current gen for the people that
can't or can't afford to get the next
gen but man does it feel like
everybody's split but if for the first
time in a while it feels like now more
than ever everybody seems to be on the
same page i'm thinking about hopping on
prime just to see what the experience is
like hopefully they patched up all the
bugs that made me want to stop playing
at the launch of the game and i might
just hop on someone's account because i
i can't be asked to grind 20 30 hours
into a build just to have that
experience just to see if pro-am is even
playable in the comments let me know if
you're still playing nba2k22 what
generation and what console if y'all new
to the channel man you enjoy nba 2k22
content subscribe here if not i'll catch
you guys in the next one
peace