NBA 2K24 adds a $10-20 Battlepass

[YinNYK]

NBA 2K24 is adding a battle-pass (expires every 6 weeks) for either $10 or $20.

 

Is this the first full price game to do this? I know Madden and FIFA have anything like this. (yet) I just think its insane, $100 to buy 2K + $50 on VC if you wish to be competitive or risk grinding weeks and now a season pass that once 2K25 comes out next year will be completely meaningless.

 

 

https://nba.2k.com/2k24/season-pass/

Edited August 17, 2023 by YinNYK

[JacksBestMate]

not even surprised at this point, the company is an actual joke

[stitchesnscars]

"Is this the first full price game to do this?"

 

It may be the first sports game to do it but they are essentially adopting  the CoD  pass formula. Each "season" lasts a few weeks with new maps and weapons that run somewhere between $15-20 after you pay for the base game of course.

[djb5f]

NHL 24 sounds like it is doing something similar.  The Crew 2 already does it with the Motor Pass.  Lots of content and challenges and unless you really suffer from FOMO, just play and get the free stuff. 

[Viper]

I don't play NBA 2K, but I do play WWE 2K, and NBA usually gets the predatory shit first...so I have to look to this game to see what's likely to come to WWE eventually. Already waiting for MyFaction to get monetized...so this figures. 

[dezzed]

Not really breaking new ground when I say that stuff like this is legitimately sickening, honestly. 

 

I'm normally in the camp of letting people do what they want with their money. The world can suck, and if someone wants to boot up a game like 2K and spend some money on microtransactions or battle passes, that's their choice.

 

But it's just the constant preying on people like that with FOMO tactics and monetizing every single avenue on top of already charging full price is just criminal. And it bleeds over into other games when other companies see how much money these sorts of things rake in.

[the_real_culture]

I'm familiar with Season Passes in Fall Guys. But at least that's a Free-to-Play game.

 

Also, all the progress in Fall Guys is for cosmetics-- though some speed up the process towards the platinum.

 

2K is selling more or less the same Virtual Currency to boost your MyPlayer stats.

 

I still agree that it's predatory because of how short lived these seasons are, the FOMO some would get, and the price. 

 

Maybe 2K will offer a F2P play option of NBA2K24 in the same vein as eFootball?? That would make it somewhat reasonable.

Edited August 17, 2023 by the_real_culture

[djb5f]

1 hour ago, Derezzed_Gamer said:

Not really breaking new ground when I say that stuff like this is legitimately sickening, honestly. 

 

I'm normally in the camp of letting people do what they want with their money. The world can suck, and if someone wants to boot up a game like 2K and spend some money on microtransactions or battle passes, that's their choice.

 

But it's just the constant preying on people like that with FOMO tactics and monetizing every single avenue on top of already charging full price is just criminal. And it bleeds over into other games when other companies see how much money these sorts of things rake in.

I understand not loving it but I think calling it sickening feels a bit extreme.  These cosmetics were already offered behind a paywall, not necessarily a battle/season pass but these passes too have been pretty common as well as we’ve seen in so many games (shooters like Call of Duty, other sports games, GTA+ for GTA Online and outlaw pass for RDR2 Online, racing games like The Crew 2 and Hot Wheels Unleashed, etc., etc.).  

 

For good or for bad, this is the live service model.  They are regularly updating by adding a lot of content and challenges each pass and you can get a lot of freebies that way without paying a dime.  Yes, if you want ALL the content, you pay more.  You obviously don’t need it; it’s a want.  Sounds pretty fair to me, someone has to fund the ongoing dev engagement and almost never-stopping content/challenge updates. 
 

These passes also tend to be specific to a certain game mode (MyTeam in NBA or World of Chel in NHL) which you can easily bypass if so inclined and still play so many other modes that are quite deep themselves without having any season pass option.

 

People often already pay $20-$40 extra at launch for a couple of crappy cosmetics for the Deluxe editions of the game.  These season passes give the players who don’t want to spend on cosmetics lots of free ones in addition to new content/missions/challenges/objectives to play.  And for those who suffer from FOMO, well, at least your return on season passes is better than it is with buying Deluxe editions.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by djb5f

[BENJAM1N_LINUS]

battle passes are a cancer

[dezzed]

14 minutes ago, djb5f said:

I understand not loving it but I think calling it sickening feels a bit extreme.  These cosmetics were already offered behind a paywall, not necessarily a battle/season pass but these passes too have been pretty common as well as we’ve seen in so many games (shooters like Call of Duty, other sports games, GTA+ for GTA Online and outlaw pass for RDR2 Online, racing games like The Crew 2 and Hot Wheels Unleashed, etc., etc.).  

 

For good or for bad, this is the live service model.  They are regularly updating by adding a lot of content and challenges each pass and you can get a lot of freebies that way without paying a dime.  Yes, if you want ALL the content, you pay more.  You obviously don’t need it; it’s a want,  Sounds pretty fair to me, someone has to fund the ongoing dev engagement and almost never-stopping content/challenge updates. 
 

These passes also tend to be specific to a certain game mode (MyTeam in NBA or World of Chel in NHL) which you can easily bypass if so inclined and still play so many other modes that are quite deep themselves without having any season pass option.

 

 I mean people already often pay $20-$40 extra at launch for a couple of crappy cosmetics for the Deluxe editions of the game.  These season passes at least give the players who don’t want to spend on cosmetics lots of free ones in addition to new content/missions/challenges/objectives to play.  And for those who suffer from FOMO, well, at least your return on season passes is better than it is with buying Deluxe editions.

 

 

I get what you mean. Honestly, I do.

 

But I don't personally play any of those games you listed for the exact reasons that I already said I have an issue with. In the case of sports games like Madden and 2K, though, it's even worse because all of the money you spend on say Madden 23 is basically lost in Madden 24.

 

And I understand the nature of spending money on microtransactions. Hell, I like to play Fortnite and I have definitely spent money on that game. But it at the very least isn't getting completely wiped away year to year by a newer game that I then have to pay another $60-70 upfront to even play the game.

 

I also just do not like the argument of them needing to do it to maintain server costs and add new content. Sports games especially are raking in literally billions of dollars, from microtransactions alone. Obviously under capitalism the goal of basically every company is profit, I just wish it wasn't so slimy about it. 2K literally put in slot wheels a year or two ago. It's all just not bueno, wish it wasn't as productive as it sadly is.

[djb5f]

14 minutes ago, Derezzed_Gamer said:

I get what you mean. Honestly, I do.

 

But I don't personally play any of those games you listed for the exact reasons that I already said I have an issue with. In the case of sports games like Madden and 2K, though, it's even worse because all of the money you spend on say Madden 23 is basically lost in Madden 24.

 

And I understand the nature of spending money on microtransactions. Hell, I like to play Fortnite and I have definitely spent money on that game. But it at the very least isn't getting completely wiped away year to year by a newer game that I then have to pay another $60-70 upfront to even play the game.

 

I definitely agree here that with annually sports titles, it gets a little silly.  Not sure if season pass content from Call of Duty carries over from release to release?

 

It’s up to the consumer at some point to see if the new content/passes are worth it to them.  Yes, these can be enticing and there is a FOMO but that is also the case in many other aspects of life.  As PT Barnum stated, “a fool and his money are soon parted.”   If they weren’t spending it here, they might be spending it on potentially more dangerous, addictive vices like cigarettes, alcohol, or lottery tickets.  Or even something like soda and junk food.

 

For someone with self-control, I personally enjoy the season passes, they extend the life of the game and provide new free challenges and swag.  But I do get what you’re saying too.

[Don_Chipotle]

Not cool if you are paying 100, 70, even 60 dollars already, everyone is free to do whatever to do with their money what they want, i also get that, but even in free games, the battle pass somewhat works because you create a game from scratch and deliver content and users unlock such, by playing many hours/completing tasks/grinding something. The thing is, many of these games will be supported years (supposedly), and many are free to play/pay to win and you can keep all the things you unlock in the version of the game you have as long as the servers of the game stay up.

 

This last thing is important because 2K nba games dont have the longest periods of online cycles, even the trophies have some kind of expiration date of months, not even years, so, why place a battle pass in a game with such a short online cycle? Also, i dont know what things will be available at that BP, but i bet someone will complain that its just pure BS compared to the premium brand items you can purchase with real cash.

 

 

[Dry]

Konami is miles ahead of their competition. For two years now eFootball (formerly Pro Evolution Soccer or in Japan, Winning Eleven) has been a F2P digital only product, an effective excuse for monetisation. What couldn’t be excused however was the rather, dare I say, Messi state at launch alongside the new preferred business model. Bugs, bugs, bugs… Everywhere!

 

Selling a full-price sports game on an annual basis is an outdated practice because not only does the internet allow easy title updates (something not possible on earlier console generations) but also, intentionally nerfing progression system(s) to provoke MTX sales in an already 60, sorry… 70 USD release is balls (no, not basketballs).

 

My two biggest reasons for not buying into and playing any modern day sporting titles are (#1) the trophy lists for these being anywhere above a 4/10 difficulty and/or hundreds of hours to platinum/100% and (#2) being a fun sports simulation is second to generating the most money possible.

 

If you ask me, I’d say latter of the two is my biggest reason for not doing so. Shit, I might as well make like a baby boomer resting my ass in front of a machine at the pokies ’til three or something in the morning…

 

…Or maybe one day I’ll start Konami’s eFootball and bugger off once I reach 100% on both platform stacks.

[VersusCA]

The battlepass + being able to instantly get level 40 has made playing online absolutely terrible this year. I've played 10 games online over the last week and a half, winning 8 of them, and every single opposing team had the ruby Giannis that comes with the battle pass. If the opponent knows what they're doing I am not sure there's a single decent counter for that Giannis at this time in the year, at least for people who don't do microtransactions. I expect battlepasses in later seasons will have similarly OP offerings like a point guard Luka, good versions of Tacko/Bol Bol, and so on. It's such a gross model for a game imo.