Crazy part is I know people who’s spent $3500+ just on Apex or Fortnite alone for every skin that comes out and Battle Pass. $3500+ on a single game for digital skins, it’s an addiction and devs prosper.
@@Mika-Freshi mean they litterally finance bad practise and ask for even more bad practise. If they stopped the industry would be better for it. Its only worse cause they keep buying lol. Someone introduce them to baldur gate 3 or elden ring ffs and make them play it until the end and restart a thousand time over until they 100% the game and then make them look at their time spent in game on steam and at the game's price and let them compare how much time they spent in sport games vs the money it cost them in total with microtransaction, then let it sunk in into their soul how much time and money they wasted on sport games and let them ask for more value from the producing compagnies
If i wanted a challenge, and to test my skill, i wouldn't be paying all this money to win!! Get it together ea! I shouldn't even be put into games, i should go from the lobby right to the win screen!
The fucking people that buy the game allow them to keep doing it. People as much as they say they hate it, actually love shit like that because every game is now doing it.
Battle Pass is killing games for me. It feels like i am playing a job. I stopped playing games that has them or I at least stopped caring about skins and unlocks.
Imagine paying $16 for a ticket to see a movie, then having to pay an extra $5 to not sit in the first row, closest to the screen. Then halfway through the movie you have to pay $10 more to keep the lights in the theater off. I mean you still get to watch the movie you paid a ticket for but now there are premiums that make it easier to see the movie. That is what EA is doing to their sports games.
@@BedroomPanic This. It's funny how a lot of gamers don't realize how scummy Take Two is with their games in general, because they hear more about EA or Activision. I use to remember the time you could level your player AS YOU WISHED. Now you need to choose a build, be limited or locked in certain skills and pay absurd VC. Even customization lol (like why should you pay VC for a shooting sleeve ???) I think the worst offence ought to be the "GTA city" they've implemented.
@@noved317wdym “we” bro? I stopped buying 2k years ago the game is trash every year and I have to throw money at it. Fuck that dude don’t give them another cent unless it’s a good game for once and not hidden behind hundreds of dollars just to play
No 2k is far ahead of madden EA is ducking garbage I hope everyone in that facility does tmr. They been releasing t the same crap for 10 years…EA is garbage
As a basketball fan, it’s great to see someone with an audience talk about this. NBA 2K has been predatory since 2K14 after it’s jump to Xbox one and PS4 consoles. Hope he continues to talk about this.
I remember the golden age for the few years before they put in myteam. I even bought the new one every year up until 2020. I finally reached the point in my life where I’m willing to vote with my wallet and not play new versions/roster updates.
To be fair, I still play single player my league mode and love, no need to upgrade, altho game still kacks essential skills like off hand strength or off ball movement. To me, game overall is still good, we NEED to highlight that this monetary garbage is only in those idiot modes like mud, fut myplayer etc. I play sports games gabdsomwly and I never ever loaded a single of those modes
2K breaks my heart. I haven’t purchased NBA2k for FOUR consecutive years now in order to protest the clear monetizing issues. It breaks my heart because several friends complain, but purchase it every year-and j haven’t been playing with them. (I play other games with them) I will say, if it went F2P and then I could just purchase battle passes, I would feel much better about spending money.
@@fudgepacker2858literally ALL the major 2k youtubers have spoken out against 2k and quit years ago. The culture is completely gone at this point. 2k continues to implement new ways to make money so it doesn’t make much of a difference. Not like people will stop buying the game
Every time they say that this new monetization will give 40 additional rewards, that means that they will remove 40 items from the base game to give them as paid rewards
not really. the good 1 payment premium games only had a handful of unlockable items. but that was a positive thing. now all games are full of infinite trinkets because they know every item is worth a few cents to someone in a sale. means you can never complete your games fully
The answer to why this continues to not only happen, but is getting worse is: A majority of games/casuals continue to support this practice, thus making companies BILLIONS of dollars per year. It will not stop until people stop spending their money on it. :(
I mean, that is the CORE COMPONENT of it, yes. But the other aspect that everyday people don’t realize is that the licensees (the NFL, the NBA, sports/clothing brands like Nike, etc) keep wanting MORE MONEY each time the licenses come back up for renegotiation, which in turn causes the publishers to implement scummier and scummier monetization schemes to try and make it up on the backend.
honestly I can't even blame them. I would do this shit too if I knew people still bought it. Well maybe not this outrageous but definitely the pack openings and special editions. The audience is the culprit. STOP BUYING THESE GAMES.
@@DaveWraptastic I honestly DREAM of a day when the collective sports gaming fandom WAKES TF UP from whatever strange trance these publishers got them in thinking they NEED to go out and buy these overpriced pieces of recycled digital shovelware each year just to then be further scammed out of their money at every turn by MTX, thereby sending these publishers into an absolute panic.
If we relied on customers to reject their own vices, we would still have cigarettes advertised to kids. The gambling isn’t going to stop until the government steps in to stop it.
Joe really has been right he warned us years ago that these greedy corporations would start doing this crap an he told us we won't wake up until it hits our favorite games 2k been my favorite sports game since back in the day I was just thinking about picking up 2k24 sad to see this happening to our games.
He rants and make a lot of drama about it but still buys and plays the games, so he is doing nothing to solve this situation, i was a big fan of FIFA but i stopped playing on 2017 soon after they added the ultimate team mode and never played a FIFA game since. if you want to make an statement do it with your wallet and do not buy the game.
@@jameshn504 He NEEDS to buy it to warn people about bad company practices... If you make a review about a game the requirement is to BUY it and test it yourself. NO BIAS.
I know it's popular to hate on sports games, but you can still play them if you want the old school experience. I want to highlight the fact that all these predatory monetary practices are only in those idiotic multiplayer modes. I still play NBA 23 and single player simulation modes are enjoyable, full experiences with amazing customization and no money transactions. EA Sports is FAR worse, their simulation modes are so not up to far anymore, they literally there just to be a check on a box, to falsely claim it is simulation game. I think NBA 2K is a good game despite garbage miss like these. FIFA on the other hand us just an overpriced scam.
This isn’t going to stop until more robust regulations are put in place. For starters, any piece of software that uses credit card information for ANYTHING should be 18+ or the minimum age for someone to have their own credit card. Second, store owners like Playstation and Steam should be required to offer parents an option to require a secret code for all purchases made through the store so kids can’t buy anything without their consent every time.
This is a decent idea but I doubt it would work at all. For one, kids are usually more "techy" than their folks and are almost ALWAYS able to figure out those codes. Growing up they had parental locks on TVs for certain level content. I didn't know a single family where they were able to do that successfully without the kids finding out the codes... Second, and more importantly, now if a card is REQUIRED for the game in order to play it, to prove that the person playing it is 18? Well parents would just put it in for their kids and then the kids would just figure out the code. And now all they need to spend money would be the code and not the physical credit card. A better option is maybe require the card to be entered EVERY TIME, not allow it to be saved, this way everyone under 18 IS FORCED TO ASK THEIR PARENTS FOR THE CARD FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL PURCHASE? So then the parent needs to physically take out their card and give it to their kid? I mean the obvious answer is parents should pay attention to what their kids spend money on, but IDK what else would actually WORK 100% besides better parenting... I mean it's like a porn site you know? Kids are gonna get on there by clicking Yes I am 18...they're gonna figure out ways to spend money too... I think not allowing children under 18 to SAVE CREDIT CARD INFO would possibly help this a bit as I mentioned, but I am very unsure about anything that could have an impact on this... Asides from gaming companies not promoting and encouraging children to gamble with chests and shit...
season pass isnt bad tho? wtf is everyones problem YOU dont need to buy it ima cook whoever regardless and i aint getting the season pass regardless who cares if your good then it wont matter
@@the._jayd3n128 It’s about us as customers expecting certain things to be a given for the money we spend. If you went to a restaurant and they charged you an extra fee for silverware, you would be rightfully upset when they told you “you can still eat with your hands”. If every restaurant started adopting the same practice, the overall quality of restaurants decreases, right?
@@mcnamaraky You’re definitely correct about that. That’s a great idea. As for the porn thing, Utah actually requires porn sites to verify age for real now which has caused sites like Pornhub to shut down service in the state completely. Personally, I would only criminalize the monetization of internet porn. Target the financial companies that process payments for these websites. If banks and credit card companies were hit with heavy fines every time they facilitated an Onlyfans subscription or a paid advertisement on a porn site, internet porn would collapse outside of people hosting it on their own dime.
@@the._jayd3n128 _This comment brought to you by 2k Games._ Lookin like those degenerate mofos in the advertisement. Is that you? Point to us which one is you.
In Europe we are paying even more lol. This has to stop. I've played 2K23 without spending money and only paid 7 euro for it but getting even 85 took ages for me.
I think the even worse part about this is that players are allowing these monetization practices to happen. As long as they keep spending money on battle passes or loot boxes, the developers won't care how many they put in.
@@VampirezZ4 That's because they're relying on normies who don't even discuss this shit online to just come home from work and spend their paycheck without even thinking about it. They justify it by saying stupid shit like "Well, a night out to dinner costs more" and "I'm getting my money's worth anyways with how much time I spend playing."
@@argosbrave6415 oh sorry my bad, i guess if the release are every 2 years then its all forgiven and good 💀💀💀 yea i drop the ball on that one i forget they reset every 2 years instead of one i forgot they receive the extra year by ONE. Yeap my bad 💀
Lol fr I've been saying for years I'd rather a kid smoke crack once then play raid shadow legends or 2k, atleast crack and drugs give you some shitty feeling afterwords
It gets even worse Joe, they also charge and give the option to skip battle pass levels for 1.99 dollar a pop. Keeping in mind, that building ONE decent player cost around 100 dollar worth of Virtual Currency. There needs to be a drastic change in these sports games, but they are earning too much money with these practices.
I remind you that you don't have to spend a hundred dollars to build your character you just need to play the game. everybody always includes that hundred dollars in the pricing of the game but no just play the game build up your VC build up your character it will take longer than if you just bought it but that's the game. 2K isn't making you spend that hundred dollars to build up your stats.
@@Auxzidethe design the game in way where it takes unreasonable long to build up vc and level ip your player…nobody has time to grind all day every day for a year just to reach 99..maybe longer…it shouldn’t take that long
@@Auxzideit takes too long to play the game and level your player up. It cost around 450,000 vc just to get from 60 overall to 99. You can play a full season in my career of about 80+ games and barely get between 150,000 vc and 200,000 vc. The moral of the story is that takes wayyyyy too much time to grind that out. It’s a pay to win game
@@Auxzide I agree with you that you don't have to do it, whenever I made a second build (most of the time center, as you can still somewhat play at lower rating) I played the way you describe. Also I would play just in the weekend and not be able to reach a high level playing like that, and as I understand from other players, recent 2Ks have made earning x amount of VC per game/hour less and less. Not sure if that is true, but I have not felt the urge to buy or play this game from release anymore, which is a shame because I used to have lots of fun with it. Anyway, the point is that the ingenuity of sports games development seems to be in monetized features and not pure gameplay features.
I super appreciate you touching on this subject. They are absolutely criminal with their tactics. It’s so flagrant a grandmother would passively aggrieve them with shame
Thank you Joe for speaking out on this. I would love for you to keep this thread going. Most of the 2k community doesn't even see their favorite content creators call out how bad take two is screwing us. I'm officially out on 2k and any related youtuber who doesn't speak out.
@@Sebatticus there are a lot of casual games who don't play much more than sports games and shooters. You might as well tell them to stop playing video games.
The 25th Anniversary Edition is actually $149.99. (Not including those "Season Passes). That's also the same price as on PC, which is still the last gen version.
For a little context, that 25th Anniversary Edition comes with a season-long subscription to NBA League Pass. I bought this version because I was going to purchase League Pass anyways to be able to watch all of my local team's games this season (TH-cam TV doesn't carry my local team). The price of League Pass alone is $100. So for me, as someone who actually watches the NBA on a regular basis, the $150 version is a pretty good value. It saves me roughly $20 than if I had bought League Pass and the base game separately. And I get the preorder bonuses as a little cherry on top (even though I refuse to play the MyTeam mode and will never actually use any of those bonuses). However, I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't watch the NBA, will never use that League Pass subscription, and are just buying this version because it has the best in-game preorder bonuses. Those people are getting ripped off. If they buy this version, tack on this stupid battle pass, and then purchase additional VC and other micro-transactions ... they're easily going to be over $200-$250 right off the bat. That's just insane. I guess it's their money at the end of the day, but buying all that useless crap just encourages them to keep tightening the screws on all the rest of us. As for the PC version, I had no idea they were charging that much for the "last gen" version of the game. That's beyond ridiculous.
@@pokes404 Last year I also thought it would be a good deal but then they brought down the yearly league pass price to like 50 bucks. I checked now and its still only like 65$ (converted from my local currency)
What’s sad is that on top of $70, you need to spend like another $50 to make your one character, that you might messed up on due to getting the game release day
$50 extra might get you to 80 overall lol. If you want to max out 1 build it’s easy over $100 now. And you better hope you studied about 10 hours on TH-cam before you make a build or you will be rocking a dead useless build in a week.
The saddest part is...even this won't cause enough of the community to boycott this...I'm still at shock that it's had input latency online for years and that is widely accepted among the community...couldn't tell u why...didnt think so many people could be so dim
You have to remember, addiction isn't something that's curable by just being bad. Many a person has suffered real, long term harm from bad drugs or alcohol, and yet, there are people who simply do...not...care. This is the same. The only difference, is no one's dragging a video game company into court, for a faulty product....we're watching apology videos....
Of course not. There is no competition on the NBA side and those bastards literally spend like $99.99 on launch to customize their players. They don't give a fuck. NBA 2K IS EVEN WORSE THAN MADDEN
Honestly, 2K is way worse and shameless compared to EA when it comes to aggressive monetization for their sports games. It's just that EA has more popular franchises and therefore takes away most of the negative attention from 2K. The PC version for this game is still old gen btw.
But to be fair, 2k actually puts effort into their games/modes. 2k's My Career & GM modes are A+ while with Madden it's just a bare mode. I mean, Madden Madden just added refs on the field. Imagine 2k removing refs.
@@blakehoule6698no no no, let them compete!!! Let 2k get the license. I’ll be glad to watch both horse crap companies fail while trying to make the same game
I agree, unfortunately I don’t even play 2k23 either. I’ve been a fan for 20 years. It’s a shame what this legendary game has become. Wish you well brother 😎
A lot of people don't even notice that the training facility has been the same since 2k16, it even has the same background noises, coaches, etc. SMH@@Cashflow_Riche
For extra context - there were 9 seasons in the 23 edition. They might even increase that this year so it’s £10/£20 x 9/10 seasons. And then everything resets for 2K25. Also they shut the severs off 2 years later so you can’t ever play again 😂
@@tylerclayton6081Yeah, but if you wanna play through your mycareer from an older 2K, you just can't because the servers are off. I tried it with a 2K from 2 or 3 years ago.
But what you don’t realize is that the content in each season is just a full mirror reflection of the previous 2k22. Mascot skins, bikes, jerseys, skeletons. I played all seasons in 2k23 and none of the content was original and not copied and pasted from the previous years rewards 😂
Joe I am an ceriel 2k buyer, after years of falling for the same micro transactions they have taken this way to far and this prevented me from purchasing this game. The base game is $70, to make a single my player or get packs you need another $50 to compete! Now they have a seasonal pass, on top of all that they have a new badge system that makes you lose badge progression (skills that help you character do a specific thing better) if you do not use a badge, but wait they make they sell a fix for it in the season pass that sets your badge level. IT IS SICK BECAUSE THEY HAVE A MONOPOLY ON IT.
The excuses are already starting in some of the comments. "You don't need to spend to progress" Completely ignoring the dark pattern gameplay that makes the grind near unbearable to progress unless you no life it. Not to mention a battle pass being added to a yearly release game. Anyone defending this has clearly been labotomised at birth.
@@jakobbeck9251play any of the previous games that are exactly the same from the previous 20 years if you support garbage all you will ever get is garbage
I will never stop spreading this message whenever Joe does a rant video... DON'T BUY SPORTS GAMES. This shit is greed manifested in a digital form, plus they're hiding behind professional athletes. OJ's reaction and silence speaks volumes.
Nah imma still buy it. I only play one game mode and that's my league which has always been a great mode. All this stuff with my team my career and this battle pass stuff I never cared for. I only care about my league so imma still get the game to play that.
It's stops when Sports gamers stop buying this trash every year. Thing is, even if 2K tanks for a year it's not enough it has to be enough where it is consistent. Gamers would have to stop buying and supporting NBA 2K for 2 - 5 years minimum. This will continue as long as 2K execs and developers feel the need to do it. (Why change it if it makes money). Good rant as always.
This is the players fault. Can’t even blame 2K honestly. It’s all bragging rights of how much money you’ve spent in the game. I’m done with MyCareer. I’ll wait til a sale and play season mode.
Yeah, you're just a vocal minority here, pal. Whining on the internet. TH-cam, no less. Outside in the real world, people don't mind and don't care about this. That's why it's still prevalent and whatnot.
What has the gaming industry become. Games are either pay to play, sjw woke garbage, or completely broken and unplayable on release day. This is literally the last four games I've bought. THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS that I may as well have wiped my ass with.
I remember sports games where you *couldnt get anything* in the first place. you just had practice games or a season. and it was a blast. havent touched sports games in over 10 years.
At the end of the day though, blame the gamers that encourage publishers like 2K and EA to do this shit. Fortunately I don't buy into these shitty practices at all, because I prefer a challenge in my games.
@@jordanking7711 every year has a new story mode that i actually seem to enjoy , and then i just stop playing . It sucks that i have to spend $70 a year
This is why I don’t buy new games. I turn my XSX on and just don’t find any interest in games nowadays. I just know they’re going to be filled with microtransactions, season passes, paywalls, and subscription services.
@@andersandersen6295in a game where u already pay 70 dollars minimum For, have poor and I mean piss POOR pack odds for the best cards that people will shell out 20 to 50 dollars a week for, a season pass for every 40 days NOT every basketball season, almost EVERY MONTH, 2k is abusing the player base because the player base is dumb as hell and they've realized they will pay WHATEVER lmaoooo I'm done with it
@@Blanktester685 not to mention, 2K is essentially a single player game that just so happens to be multiplayer. If you play this by yourself, you still reap benefits of the rewards. It's definitely otw lol
In MyCareer/Park you have to spend ANOTHER $100 to get your player to be useable or you have to play a RIDICULOUS amount of time. Also if you play MyTeam they expect you to spend HUNDREDS of dollars a month to keep a reasonable squad. Then they added an option pack where you could choose 1 of the top 3-5 new cards for FIFTY DOLLARS. And they do that TWICE a week. So they want $100 a WEEK, and a lot of people do at least one of those. It's disgusting.
I stopped playing sports games years ago, it's sad because that was in my go to games for many years, but the ultimate team as the focus has dramatically dropped the quality of the game, I had bought the newest madden a few years ago and couldn't believe how unresponsive the gameplay felt, probably played it like 5 times and it just doesn't grab me the same way it used to
By this point I believe marketing executives off all those big publishers have come together in secret, wrote down a huge list of possible monetization tactics and then take turns each year implementing a new tactic from said list and see how the public reacts. And if the sales numbers did not suffer, the other publishers will follow and implement that mechanic in the following year.
Its not even secret, there are plenty of on the books "proffessional conventions" which is execs bragging to one another about their glorious ways of ripping players off and how much money they made. Huge circle jerk and idea sharing cess pool that they call "networking"
Everyday i feel so blessed the last basketball game i loved was nba street vol 2 and i never felt the need to keep up with the new 2k entries. Living an amazing life.
Can’t be surprised a 2K game did this, they change next to nothing each year when a new one comes out. Side note, remember they dropped the Rookie difficulty a while back making it essentially necessary for any new or inexperienced players to buy VC to make their player good enough to compete, and this was back in the mid 2010’s.
Im pretty sure the majority of the player base for these sports titles are kids, school yard props to be the best at that years sports game. We will never convince kids to not compete amongst themselves, its literally impossible EA has grabbed the kids by the pants and get on the Christmas and birthday lists every year, parents blindly pay to keep them happy. This alone is 3million + sales twice a year. Pocket money is spent on season cards not working income.
Joe plz keep doing what u are doing. Even if it feels hopeless sometimes. You give young people like myself hope when we are struggling for money to pay for power and food and turn to games for fun. I can only afford games like 2k and fifa when they go on sale for £10-£20 and when i do i feel miles behind the idiots who pay full price and then another £100 for their online teams while im stuck with 70 rated players against their "hall of fame ultra on fire #24 edition legend edition kobe bryrants" I kno after so long it feels like you are doing nothing but plz keep doing what you are doing. Even if its just to make people that are feeling like, hope that one day the ceos and suits will think about people like me I've been a massive fan of your show for nearly 10 years and these types of videos always make me feel like someone with a voice represents me. Thank you for videos like this.
At least with games like Elden Ring and Baldurs gate 3 there’s still hope for good games made by developers that actually care. Maybe with their success it will persuade other studios to start making quality releases again
season pass isnt bad tho? wtf is everyones problem YOU dont need to buy it ima cook whoever regardless and i aint getting the season pass regardless who cares if your good then it wont matter
@@the._jayd3n128 You are the reason we have such heavy monetization in FULLY PRICED games now. Maybe you're too young to remember the days when you bought a game and you got EVERYTHING, without having to pay more. If you allow them to monetize and don't ridicule it and fight back, they will take over and ruin games even more.
we're at the point in the video game industry where every developer tries to appeal to a ~broader audience~ by turning every once unique franchise and IP into the same watered-down sludge of battle passes, subscriptions, cosmetic stores, limited timed events, tier skips, seasons, xp boost tokens, and in-game currency. It's no longer about making a fun game, but to make a game that squeezes the most money out of its player base.
They spend all their time figuring out how to steal money, And when an actual game comes out Like Baulder's Gate 3 They slam the dev's for making a great game. These AAA studio's need to be taught a lesson!
Not really. A lot of it is badly worded comments towards consumers about keeping expectations in check about BG3 setting a new standard, content wise. Many are taking it as "we don't want to put the effort in." From what I've seen no dev is "slamming" BG3 or Larian, more just telling gamers what to think and to keep their standards in check. Really just a case of bad messaging and the community interpreting it differently where if they all just kept quiet there wouldn't have been a issue. A shit show of communication that in the end make devs look "lazy". That's just my take though, if you look into it yourself you may see it differently.
I used to love 2K back in the day with like 2K3 and 2K4 with Allen Iverson on all the covers. The games were great and 0 monetization back then. Later in the early 2010’s when they slowly started adding gambling BS and the games were just the same as the previous year I got sick of buying them and giving them money every single year for the same game with hardly any updates besides the roster. It became so ridiculous, it’s a shame to see how far gone they’ve become even from a decade ago. RIP to the golden age of sports games (1999-2013)
It already costs at least $100 to make one single player build , and not to mention that’s on top of the how much you paid for the game , and let’s not forget how much they charge in the MyTeam mode for packs and players($50 for a single card that will be useless usually 2-3 weeks after it release), oh and you have to pay for Gatorade and player boosts as well, as well as any cosmetics that you want for your player. Oh also have to pay for any bikes or skateboards to get around faster in the city. This shit is criminal
They're not testing anything, these game companies know that most sports gamer "whales" (as these companies like to call them) don't give a fuck about the microtransactions and will shill out a shit ton of money on them or just fool a kid into spending a couple thousand dollars out of his parents credit card.
If it really were to go full on live service they'd make the game so it only works with a constant internet connection in addition to you needing the online subscription of the console you're paying for to even be able to PLAY the game. Oh, and don't forget they'd shut the game down in 2 years, rendering your copy completely useless.
This is what I was afraid of when people started buying Diablo 4, which is also full price with a season pass. The game industry immediately jumps on these things.
Thats why I'm leaning more towards single player type games nowadays. Good old days of just loading up and hitting play are almost all over with multiplayer games or even Co-op games as well. Now its load up and get bombarded by 3-4 ingame pop up ads and battle passes.
Not sure it will ever end, but so glad you keep it in the spotlight. It's legitimate theft, considering these things can disappear due to game bugs and support cannot bring it back, they may comp you ingame currency.
I agree whole heartedly. I haven’t bought a 2k in 10 years and I haven’t bought a madden in at least double that. And I’m someone who grew up on video games and have played them for most of my life and I’m also someone who’s whole life is sports (WHO DEY). I play mlb the show and that’s it. No extra money spent for card packs or any of that bs, just pure franchise mode. By myself. And I love it.
nhl 24 brought back hitting into the bench and breaking the glass random times when hitting as well, and they had both of those in nhl 12, yes nhl 12, and claimed it to be so new and amazing
I remember when the industry first announced games would be 70 dollars but little did we know that the games would be incomplete! To get the characters like in fighting games you get the game for 70 and have to pay another 40 to get the charcter releases every "season" or just wait and buy the game of the years edition that is a hell of a lot cheaper than the original 70 dollars you spent.
Honestly- still better then what we could get, so yk what im not complating about good complete and well priced dlc anymore. Atleast one gives me more of what i liked when i what too in one purchase while rather then spend 150 on the game plus multiple seosen passes plus gambeling mecanics, plus microtransations, plus buffs, pluss buying the same clothing 2-8 times, plus buy each shoe socks shirts pants individualy, plus copy paste dlc that was cut from the game just to make it a seperated charge. ….. oh and also watching adds now in bewten matches.. … and to repeat it all next year cause they just shut down last year servera and have to restart all over again…. fuck you give me money, … i what normal good dlc back 😭😭
FIFA/EASFC looks like it will be doing something similar albeit on a lower level to this, some objectives that give extra XP towards seasonal progress are being gated off behind using kits that you can only purchase with FIFA/EASFC points, they've been sort of trialling them in the later months of FIFA 23.
Yeah, 2k is literally just pay to play. It's been like this for years. The only reason nobody says anything is because the 2k streamer get paid yo play it over have contracts where they aren't allowed to.
The company name "2K" refers to the amount of money they want you to pay for each game they produce.
Crazy part is I know people who’s spent $3500+ just on Apex or Fortnite alone for every skin that comes out and Battle Pass. $3500+ on a single game for digital skins, it’s an addiction and devs prosper.
@@TheProphegyI hate those kind of people
@@Dp_is_Opyou hate people with mental disorders? Brave of you to admit that.
@@Mika-Fresh I have a mental disorder so what's your point? I hate both sides
@@Mika-Freshi mean they litterally finance bad practise and ask for even more bad practise. If they stopped the industry would be better for it. Its only worse cause they keep buying lol. Someone introduce them to baldur gate 3 or elden ring ffs and make them play it until the end and restart a thousand time over until they 100% the game and then make them look at their time spent in game on steam and at the game's price and let them compare how much time they spent in sport games vs the money it cost them in total with microtransaction, then let it sunk in into their soul how much time and money they wasted on sport games and let them ask for more value from the producing compagnies
I'm damn tired of developers putting sports in my gambling games.
"Surprise mechanics"
Lmao
If i wanted a challenge, and to test my skill, i wouldn't be paying all this money to win!! Get it together ea! I shouldn't even be put into games, i should go from the lobby right to the win screen!
@@asundelgun3487 Surprise balls in your face.
The fucking people that buy the game allow them to keep doing it. People as much as they say they hate it, actually love shit like that because every game is now doing it.
Battle Pass is killing games for me. It feels like i am playing a job. I stopped playing games that has them or I at least stopped caring about skins and unlocks.
Facts bro
I literally wait for two franchises. Resident evil and final fantasy 7. Other than that i just play ps1 still😂
Not to mention the god damn FOMO bs, I paid for this game why does the shit go away forever? Even in free games that stupid as hell
@@Ridiculousman2ndsound like me with fromsoft games. Went back and played Dark souls 2 waiting for elden ring dlc. Might get armored core 6.
Yup me too, i dont play apex anymore, im sick of em
Imagine paying $16 for a ticket to see a movie, then having to pay an extra $5 to not sit in the first row, closest to the screen. Then halfway through the movie you have to pay $10 more to keep the lights in the theater off. I mean you still get to watch the movie you paid a ticket for but now there are premiums that make it easier to see the movie.
That is what EA is doing to their sports games.
NBA 2K is a Take Two (2K Sports game)
EA at least allows you to play offline mode without paying to build your own player.
@@BedroomPanic This. It's funny how a lot of gamers don't realize how scummy Take Two is with their games in general, because they hear more about EA or Activision.
I use to remember the time you could level your player AS YOU WISHED. Now you need to choose a build, be limited or locked in certain skills and pay absurd VC. Even customization lol (like why should you pay VC for a shooting sleeve ???)
I think the worst offence ought to be the "GTA city" they've implemented.
Exactly 💯.
What’s crazy is that on top of the $70 entry fee and $10 season pass they’ll make you watch ads in the loading screen and slap ads all over the game
Plus it's about $120 to make a build just to be an 80ovr
No fking way 🤣🤣
And we all gonna buy that vc every single fucking year
STOP PLAYING ONLINE. Stick to franchise or season mode you fools
@@noved317wdym “we” bro? I stopped buying 2k years ago the game is trash every year and I have to throw money at it. Fuck that dude don’t give them another cent unless it’s a good game for once and not hidden behind hundreds of dollars just to play
2k and EA are a perfect example of why monopolies, even in small markets completely screw everything
Bobby Kotick the real Diablo
It doesn’t matter when both options are equally garbage.
@@DepthFromAboveWell for soccer video games there’s Supposably some future viable options that wanna compete with EA…..
We’ll see how that goes
No 2k is far ahead of madden EA is ducking garbage I hope everyone in that facility does tmr. They been releasing t the same crap for 10 years…EA is garbage
2k is way worse dude.
As a basketball fan, it’s great to see someone with an audience talk about this. NBA 2K has been predatory since 2K14 after it’s jump to Xbox one and PS4 consoles. Hope he continues to talk about this.
Sad because NBA 2k11/12 etc were one of the best sports "simulation" type of games
I remember the golden age for the few years before they put in myteam. I even bought the new one every year up until 2020. I finally reached the point in my life where I’m willing to vote with my wallet and not play new versions/roster updates.
Yeah uh not just that but the amount of stupidity to do a simple thing you should of done to begin with
To be fair, I still play single player my league mode and love, no need to upgrade, altho game still kacks essential skills like off hand strength or off ball movement. To me, game overall is still good, we NEED to highlight that this monetary garbage is only in those idiot modes like mud, fut myplayer etc. I play sports games gabdsomwly and I never ever loaded a single of those modes
@@TheRealUcanUwill I agree. I just play 2k20 my league when I need my fix lol
2K breaks my heart. I haven’t purchased NBA2k for FOUR consecutive years now in order to protest the clear monetizing issues. It breaks my heart because several friends complain, but purchase it every year-and j haven’t been playing with them. (I play other games with them) I will say, if it went F2P and then I could just purchase battle passes, I would feel much better about spending money.
This 2k takes the cake...$50 for vc just to get your player from a 60 to a 75....the hell😐
"Tomorrow we're playing Madden."
That made me smile for all the wrong reasons, I am so sorry Joe.
After all the rants and drama he made about Madden every single years he still play it 🙄🙄🙄🙄
@@jameshn504he has to so he can warn others not to buy into this garbage.
which means it is time for another Madden rant :D
@@jameshn504 he plays it through Xbox Gamepass. He hasn't purchased the game in a very long time.
@@jameshn504It's almost like the high view counts influence what content he produces 🤯
It’s sad that they are marketing Kobe after his passing just like EA did with Madden….the greed is overwhelming.
Especially cause one of them is a rapist
Twice now..
Im sure the families don't mind as long as the royalties keep coming in
yha they been doing this for years its not just a kobe thing
@@colekinnemanYeah I was literally just about to say that!
Why I love this channel: I don't even think you play 2k like that, yet you're willing to fight a battle that 2k's own community won't even fight.
Bro, even if you don’t play the game which I do… it’s fucking insulting.
@@creepii91the community doesn’t give a fuck we know this lol
Oh they’ve been fighting this battle for years and it only gets worse every year. 2k is the biggest cash grab in gaming history.
@@fudgepacker2858literally ALL the major 2k youtubers have spoken out against 2k and quit years ago. The culture is completely gone at this point. 2k continues to implement new ways to make money so it doesn’t make much of a difference. Not like people will stop buying the game
@@SamUHells”they’ve been in the battle for years” yet they buy the game every year. Instant loss.
I wish another studio would acquire the rights to an NBA game
and then what bro there will be no 2k killer
@@slayography5089Unless NBA Jam or NBA Street comes back from the grave.
Every time they say that this new monetization will give 40 additional rewards, that means that they will remove 40 items from the base game to give them as paid rewards
Nah they'll add like two cool things and fuck over 100 other things in the process
not really. the good 1 payment premium games only had a handful of unlockable items. but that was a positive thing. now all games are full of infinite trinkets because they know every item is worth a few cents to someone in a sale. means you can never complete your games fully
The answer to why this continues to not only happen, but is getting worse is: A majority of games/casuals continue to support this practice, thus making companies BILLIONS of dollars per year. It will not stop until people stop spending their money on it. :(
BUT people are stupid, so here we are.
I mean, that is the CORE COMPONENT of it, yes.
But the other aspect that everyday people don’t realize is that the licensees (the NFL, the NBA, sports/clothing brands like Nike, etc) keep wanting MORE MONEY each time the licenses come back up for renegotiation, which in turn causes the publishers to implement scummier and scummier monetization schemes to try and make it up on the backend.
honestly I can't even blame them. I would do this shit too if I knew people still bought it. Well maybe not this outrageous but definitely the pack openings and special editions. The audience is the culprit. STOP BUYING THESE GAMES.
@@DaveWraptastic
I honestly DREAM of a day when the collective sports gaming fandom WAKES TF UP from whatever strange trance these publishers got them in thinking they NEED to go out and buy these overpriced pieces of recycled digital shovelware each year just to then be further scammed out of their money at every turn by MTX, thereby sending these publishers into an absolute panic.
If we relied on customers to reject their own vices, we would still have cigarettes advertised to kids. The gambling isn’t going to stop until the government steps in to stop it.
Joe really has been right he warned us years ago that these greedy corporations would start doing this crap an he told us we won't wake up until it hits our favorite games 2k been my favorite sports game since back in the day I was just thinking about picking up 2k24 sad to see this happening to our games.
You fucked yourself buying that copy and paste year after year anyway. It hit you years ago first, just too silly to see it.
2K been greedy for years, consumers were too blind to see it.
@@KEYTV13more the kids who have their parents opening their wallets, so corporations only see money and not value.
Theyve been shit since take two bought 2k
This is why games like bg3 need the attention they're getting. And why big corporations absolutely hate the success of it.
As long as enough people spend increasingly more money on practices like these, things will only continue to get worse
Hit the nail right on the head. And the sad thing is, people are too dumb to see it.
@@jordanking7711some dont see it but others do and just dont care and accept it
You mean the streamers who pay for all of this stuff and then shill out to their impressionable audience? Because that's exactly what's happening.
joe ranting about sports games is absolutely amazing
Games? More like scam.
Everyone should be ranting.
He rants and make a lot of drama about it but still buys and plays the games, so he is doing nothing to solve this situation, i was a big fan of FIFA but i stopped playing on 2017 soon after they added the ultimate team mode and never played a FIFA game since. if you want to make an statement do it with your wallet and do not buy the game.
It's a yearly tradition at this point.
@@jameshn504 He NEEDS to buy it to warn people about bad company practices... If you make a review about a game the requirement is to BUY it and test it yourself. NO BIAS.
These sports games never cease to disappoint! LOL
Sports games got me playing Madden 2k5, nba 2k11, mlb 10, and fifa 11 in 2023
I know it's popular to hate on sports games, but you can still play them if you want the old school experience. I want to highlight the fact that all these predatory monetary practices are only in those idiotic multiplayer modes. I still play NBA 23 and single player simulation modes are enjoyable, full experiences with amazing customization and no money transactions.
EA Sports is FAR worse, their simulation modes are so not up to far anymore, they literally there just to be a check on a box, to falsely claim it is simulation game. I think NBA 2K is a good game despite garbage miss like these. FIFA on the other hand us just an overpriced scam.
@TheRealUcanUwill not really... madden 23 didn't even have half the features or half the game play that madden 06 did
Or nfl 2k5 did
This isn’t going to stop until more robust regulations are put in place. For starters, any piece of software that uses credit card information for ANYTHING should be 18+ or the minimum age for someone to have their own credit card. Second, store owners like Playstation and Steam should be required to offer parents an option to require a secret code for all purchases made through the store so kids can’t buy anything without their consent every time.
This is a decent idea but I doubt it would work at all.
For one, kids are usually more "techy" than their folks and are almost ALWAYS able to figure out those codes.
Growing up they had parental locks on TVs for certain level content. I didn't know a single family where they were able to do that successfully without the kids finding out the codes...
Second, and more importantly, now if a card is REQUIRED for the game in order to play it, to prove that the person playing it is 18? Well parents would just put it in for their kids and then the kids would just figure out the code. And now all they need to spend money would be the code and not the physical credit card.
A better option is maybe require the card to be entered EVERY TIME, not allow it to be saved, this way everyone under 18 IS FORCED TO ASK THEIR PARENTS FOR THE CARD FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL PURCHASE? So then the parent needs to physically take out their card and give it to their kid?
I mean the obvious answer is parents should pay attention to what their kids spend money on, but IDK what else would actually WORK 100% besides better parenting...
I mean it's like a porn site you know? Kids are gonna get on there by clicking Yes I am 18...they're gonna figure out ways to spend money too...
I think not allowing children under 18 to SAVE CREDIT CARD INFO would possibly help this a bit as I mentioned, but I am very unsure about anything that could have an impact on this...
Asides from gaming companies not promoting and encouraging children to gamble with chests and shit...
season pass isnt bad tho? wtf is everyones problem YOU dont need to buy it ima cook whoever regardless and i aint getting the season pass regardless who cares if your good then it wont matter
@@the._jayd3n128 It’s about us as customers expecting certain things to be a given for the money we spend. If you went to a restaurant and they charged you an extra fee for silverware, you would be rightfully upset when they told you “you can still eat with your hands”. If every restaurant started adopting the same practice, the overall quality of restaurants decreases, right?
@@mcnamaraky You’re definitely correct about that. That’s a great idea.
As for the porn thing, Utah actually requires porn sites to verify age for real now which has caused sites like Pornhub to shut down service in the state completely. Personally, I would only criminalize the monetization of internet porn. Target the financial companies that process payments for these websites. If banks and credit card companies were hit with heavy fines every time they facilitated an Onlyfans subscription or a paid advertisement on a porn site, internet porn would collapse outside of people hosting it on their own dime.
@@the._jayd3n128 _This comment brought to you by 2k Games._
Lookin like those degenerate mofos in the advertisement. Is that you? Point to us which one is you.
Worst part is that, it only exists because players will buy it...
If Joe knew we had to pay $70 for a build he would have a heart attack lol
Bump
In Europe we are paying even more lol. This has to stop. I've played 2K23 without spending money and only paid 7 euro for it but getting even 85 took ages for me.
You don't have to pay 70 bucks, you choose too, that's on you, hold this L
@@nuiharime3410 that’s not even the point idiot be quiet 😂
@@mikeyb5610 good lord
The worst part about this is that other games have been infected with this kind of monetization too
I think the even worse part about this is that players are allowing these monetization practices to happen. As long as they keep spending money on battle passes or loot boxes, the developers won't care how many they put in.
Sports games are literally a waste of money. It's copied and pasted as a new title, every year...
@@VampirezZ4 That's because they're relying on normies who don't even discuss this shit online to just come home from work and spend their paycheck without even thinking about it. They justify it by saying stupid shit like "Well, a night out to dinner costs more" and "I'm getting my money's worth anyways with how much time I spend playing."
Basically mobile f2p systems within full priced console games.
Dude, we're already forced to see like 10 billion ads all over the game when you're playing.
You'd think they would have enough money from that alone!
A battle pass system for a yearly release game. Wow.
I mean- …. Cod?
Even COD decided to slow down their releases ... it's Blizzard so there's bullshit there for sure lol but, 2K ain't gettin off the hook here
@@argosbrave6415 oh sorry my bad, i guess if the release are every 2 years then its all forgiven and good 💀💀💀 yea i drop the ball on that one i forget they reset every 2 years instead of one i forgot they receive the extra year by ONE. Yeap my bad 💀
I cant believe EA actually seemd like a good company now since there not at the bottom anymore, lol
This literally was better than any 2k gamer creators thanks Joe 😂 looking out for the little people
They are helping people kick thier video game addiction by making games that cost more than the equipment to play a sport in real life.
😂 it’s getting there!!!
Lol fr I've been saying for years I'd rather a kid smoke crack once then play raid shadow legends or 2k, atleast crack and drugs give you some shitty feeling afterwords
For real man !
Watch the sheep buy everything.
Yeah sadly
You mean the addicts 😂
@@Skateandcreate9 makes sad to know 2 family members belong there😢 and no matter what I say is pointless.
I feel bad for sports fan they can’t even get a decent game
I haven’t bought madden or 2k this year and let me tell u if feels damn good😎💆🏾♂️
It gets even worse Joe, they also charge and give the option to skip battle pass levels for 1.99 dollar a pop. Keeping in mind, that building ONE decent player cost around 100 dollar worth of Virtual Currency. There needs to be a drastic change in these sports games, but they are earning too much money with these practices.
I remind you that you don't have to spend a hundred dollars to build your character you just need to play the game. everybody always includes that hundred dollars in the pricing of the game but no just play the game build up your VC build up your character it will take longer than if you just bought it but that's the game. 2K isn't making you spend that hundred dollars to build up your stats.
@@Auxzidethe design the game in way where it takes unreasonable long to build up vc and level ip your player…nobody has time to grind all day every day for a year just to reach 99..maybe longer…it shouldn’t take that long
@@Auxzideit takes too long to play the game and level your player up. It cost around 450,000 vc just to get from 60 overall to 99. You can play a full season in my career of about 80+ games and barely get between 150,000 vc and 200,000 vc. The moral of the story is that takes wayyyyy too much time to grind that out. It’s a pay to win game
@@Auxzide I agree with you that you don't have to do it, whenever I made a second build (most of the time center, as you can still somewhat play at lower rating) I played the way you describe. Also I would play just in the weekend and not be able to reach a high level playing like that, and as I understand from other players, recent 2Ks have made earning x amount of VC per game/hour less and less. Not sure if that is true, but I have not felt the urge to buy or play this game from release anymore, which is a shame because I used to have lots of fun with it. Anyway, the point is that the ingenuity of sports games development seems to be in monetized features and not pure gameplay features.
@@Auxzideby the time you grind 250k vc, 2k25 would be coming around the corner 😂
I super appreciate you touching on this subject. They are absolutely criminal with their tactics. It’s so flagrant a grandmother would passively aggrieve them with shame
Thank you Joe for speaking out on this. I would love for you to keep this thread going. Most of the 2k community doesn't even see their favorite content creators call out how bad take two is screwing us. I'm officially out on 2k and any related youtuber who doesn't speak out.
It can’t almost be madden time of year again can it? Joe reviewing madden brings me more joy than Christmas
🎶 It's the most Madden time of the year. 🎶
Thank you Joe. As someone who loves basketball and is handcuffed by 2k this needed to be spoken up about. It’s criminal
Stop playing 2k. That’s the only way it’ll change 😂
Just don't play 2k or fifa or madden, sports games are a scam lol
You make an excellent point, but that’s a tough ask if you love basketball and video games, and this is the ONE basketball video game.
Nothing is gonna change
@@Sebatticus there are a lot of casual games who don't play much more than sports games and shooters. You might as well tell them to stop playing video games.
There’s no “2k fans” there are basketball fans who are forced to play 2k cause of exclusive license
The 25th Anniversary Edition is actually $149.99. (Not including those "Season Passes). That's also the same price as on PC, which is still the last gen version.
For a little context, that 25th Anniversary Edition comes with a season-long subscription to NBA League Pass. I bought this version because I was going to purchase League Pass anyways to be able to watch all of my local team's games this season (TH-cam TV doesn't carry my local team). The price of League Pass alone is $100. So for me, as someone who actually watches the NBA on a regular basis, the $150 version is a pretty good value. It saves me roughly $20 than if I had bought League Pass and the base game separately. And I get the preorder bonuses as a little cherry on top (even though I refuse to play the MyTeam mode and will never actually use any of those bonuses).
However, I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't watch the NBA, will never use that League Pass subscription, and are just buying this version because it has the best in-game preorder bonuses. Those people are getting ripped off. If they buy this version, tack on this stupid battle pass, and then purchase additional VC and other micro-transactions ... they're easily going to be over $200-$250 right off the bat. That's just insane. I guess it's their money at the end of the day, but buying all that useless crap just encourages them to keep tightening the screws on all the rest of us.
As for the PC version, I had no idea they were charging that much for the "last gen" version of the game. That's beyond ridiculous.
@@pokes404
The league pass was the only good thing about 2k23 lol
I love how they’re STILL using Kobe Bryant’s name to charge additional money for the game.
@@pokes404 Last year I also thought it would be a good deal but then they brought down the yearly league pass price to like 50 bucks. I checked now and its still only like 65$ (converted from my local currency)
What’s sad is that on top of $70, you need to spend like another $50 to make your one character, that you might messed up on due to getting the game release day
50? Lol nah it's over $100 worth of vc to max out ONE player smh and the amount of hours it's takes to upgrade without spending anything is crazy
$50 extra might get you to 80 overall lol.
If you want to max out 1 build it’s easy over $100 now.
And you better hope you studied about 10 hours on TH-cam before you make a build or you will be rocking a dead useless build in a week.
@@D1E1R1E1Kfacts
50 on a character that they will nerf because it’s too good
$100 for the character
The saddest part is...even this won't cause enough of the community to boycott this...I'm still at shock that it's had input latency online for years and that is widely accepted among the community...couldn't tell u why...didnt think so many people could be so dim
Of course not. Look at Fifa
Bro the game is laggy offline. I could never play 2k because everything is like a half second delay. Nothing is fluid
You have to remember, addiction isn't something that's curable by just being bad. Many a person has suffered real, long term harm from bad drugs or alcohol, and yet, there are people who simply do...not...care. This is the same. The only difference, is no one's dragging a video game company into court, for a faulty product....we're watching apology videos....
Of course not. There is no competition on the NBA side and those bastards literally spend like $99.99 on launch to customize their players. They don't give a fuck. NBA 2K IS EVEN WORSE THAN MADDEN
because almost all of those players who played ea nba fifa sports game are all p2w gamblers who doesn't care about fair gameplay.
It hasn’t gotten so much worse throughout the year too, MyTeam is an absolute disaster
Honestly, 2K is way worse and shameless compared to EA when it comes to aggressive monetization for their sports games. It's just that EA has more popular franchises and therefore takes away most of the negative attention from 2K. The PC version for this game is still old gen btw.
Agreed
Yup people will be like “ NFL needs to give the license to 2K “ like they weren’t all going down the same path lol
They are doing pc so dirty
But to be fair, 2k actually puts effort into their games/modes. 2k's My Career & GM modes are A+ while with Madden it's just a bare mode. I mean, Madden Madden just added refs on the field. Imagine 2k removing refs.
@@blakehoule6698no no no, let them compete!!! Let 2k get the license. I’ll be glad to watch both horse crap companies fail while trying to make the same game
I have retired from 2k after nba2k23. It's a shame what is happening to games. Good luck next generation.
I agree, unfortunately I don’t even play 2k23 either. I’ve been a fan for 20 years. It’s a shame what this legendary game has become. Wish you well brother 😎
A lot of people don't even notice that the training facility has been the same since 2k16, it even has the same background noises, coaches, etc. SMH@@Cashflow_Riche
To sports games* I just play stuff like God of War, Elden Ring, Resident Evil, ghost of Tsushima etc. Way better than COD or any sports game.
you'll be back, i said this before ...lol..smh
I retired after 2k11. It's a damn shame to see what happened to this franchise.
For extra context - there were 9 seasons in the 23 edition. They might even increase that this year so it’s £10/£20 x 9/10 seasons. And then everything resets for 2K25. Also they shut the severs off 2 years later so you can’t ever play again 😂
Those nba2k games are usually dead after 2 years anyways. Everyone moves on to the next 2K game every year or every 2 years
@@tylerclayton6081🐑🐏🐑
@@tylerclayton6081Yeah, but if you wanna play through your mycareer from an older 2K, you just can't because the servers are off. I tried it with a 2K from 2 or 3 years ago.
@@tylerclayton6081not the point. All your builds are deleted when the servers go
But what you don’t realize is that the content in each season is just a full mirror reflection of the previous 2k22.
Mascot skins, bikes, jerseys, skeletons. I played all seasons in 2k23 and none of the content was original and not copied and pasted from the previous years rewards 😂
Joe I am an ceriel 2k buyer, after years of falling for the same micro transactions they have taken this way to far and this prevented me from purchasing this game.
The base game is $70, to make a single my player or get packs you need another $50 to compete! Now they have a seasonal pass, on top of all that they have a new badge system that makes you lose badge progression (skills that help you character do a specific thing better) if you do not use a badge, but wait they make they sell a fix for it in the season pass that sets your badge level.
IT IS SICK BECAUSE THEY HAVE A MONOPOLY ON IT.
Hey Angry Joe, Good Luck Playing Madden Tomorrow. :)
Where's my money at?
Oh good, he can buy a few BLUE! cosmetics
I’m in Austin, and I thought I felt the ground shake 😂😂
It's incredible how "for free" slipped in there. They treat these games as they'd free-to-play but they charge for them, because they can.
“Give us all the money” 2K
You know something's wrong when even the 2K TH-camrs/Streamers are complaining about it.
I absolutely can't WAIT to hear what excuses the sports gamers have to say about this.
they want to play NFL/NBA and there's only one option for both lol
We are fucked off. But where else do we go?? I cannot get my basketball game fix without selling my kidneys
The excuses are already starting in some of the comments.
"You don't need to spend to progress"
Completely ignoring the dark pattern gameplay that makes the grind near unbearable to progress unless you no life it.
Not to mention a battle pass being added to a yearly release game. Anyone defending this has clearly been labotomised at birth.
Sports gamers have always been turbo casuals with more money than sense so this will never get better.
@@jakobbeck9251play any of the previous games that are exactly the same from the previous 20 years if you support garbage all you will ever get is garbage
I will never stop spreading this message whenever Joe does a rant video... DON'T BUY SPORTS GAMES. This shit is greed manifested in a digital form, plus they're hiding behind professional athletes. OJ's reaction and silence speaks volumes.
I mean my friend will buy this game and love it. Who cares?
@@p1xelz323 your friend doesn't realise he's being mugged off
@@p1xelz323 Then, tell your friend to just make a bonfire and throw cash into it. Much easier.
@@theriddler1112 ^^^ This
Nah imma still buy it. I only play one game mode and that's my league which has always been a great mode. All this stuff with my team my career and this battle pass stuff I never cared for. I only care about my league so imma still get the game to play that.
It's stops when Sports gamers stop buying this trash every year.
Thing is, even if 2K tanks for a year it's not enough it has to be enough where it is consistent.
Gamers would have to stop buying and supporting NBA 2K for 2 - 5 years minimum.
This will continue as long as 2K execs and developers feel the need to do it. (Why change it if it makes money).
Good rant as always.
This is the players fault. Can’t even blame 2K honestly. It’s all bragging rights of how much money you’ve spent in the game. I’m done with MyCareer. I’ll wait til a sale and play season mode.
Yeah, you're just a vocal minority here, pal. Whining on the internet. TH-cam, no less. Outside in the real world, people don't mind and don't care about this. That's why it's still prevalent and whatnot.
You know how people get when their favorite sports team wins or loses. I love black folks but they worship athletes. It’s the gamers fault.
@@Foxfire_forty-nineAnd you're just a small-brained shill who can't stop defending horrid companies. Learn to support quality products.
If it was any other basketball game we would leave. But it isn't. We have no other options.
What has the gaming industry become. Games are either pay to play, sjw woke garbage, or completely broken and unplayable on release day. This is literally the last four games I've bought. THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS that I may as well have wiped my ass with.
Remember when you can just play basketball video games and get everything for free??? Epic times
Like nba 2k12 was like the last year of this before it shit the bed.
I remember sports games where you *couldnt get anything* in the first place. you just had practice games or a season. and it was a blast. havent touched sports games in over 10 years.
As a guy who isn't really into sports, I honestly feel sorry for all the gamers who play these sports games.
Don’t. The ones that still play are the reason these companies get away with stuff like this every year.
@@yqco6i enjoy NBA 2K because of the story mode but i don't agree with what they are doing . what am i supposed to do lol
At the end of the day though, blame the gamers that encourage publishers like 2K and EA to do this shit. Fortunately I don't buy into these shitty practices at all, because I prefer a challenge in my games.
@@IzzyDaKid Just don't buy into these MTX practices. It's THAT simple. I mean how hard is it?
@@jordanking7711 every year has a new story mode that i actually seem to enjoy , and then i just stop playing . It sucks that i have to spend $70 a year
If they're doing this with 2k I can't imagine how explosive Joe's Madden rant will be this time around
Fr going to be hilarious but sacrificing our gaming culture for comedy is a little ...sad
@@The1Music2MyEars I guess I'm just embracing the gallows humor at this point
This is why I don’t buy new games. I turn my XSX on and just don’t find any interest in games nowadays. I just know they’re going to be filled with microtransactions, season passes, paywalls, and subscription services.
Thank you for saying it some TH-camrs in the 2k community are trying to justify these predatory play to win tatics
Play to win is bad?
@@andersandersen6295in a game where u already pay 70 dollars minimum For, have poor and I mean piss POOR pack odds for the best cards that people will shell out 20 to 50 dollars a week for, a season pass for every 40 days NOT every basketball season, almost EVERY MONTH, 2k is abusing the player base because the player base is dumb as hell and they've realized they will pay WHATEVER lmaoooo I'm done with it
@@andersandersen6295yeah
@@andersandersen6295 they most likely meant *PAY to win
No shit sherlock!@@nox2sweet
Single Player gamer to Multiplayer Gamer:
“Wow, sucks to be you.”
you don't think this bs is gonna start happening in single player games? it absolutely will.
@@Blanktester685 not to mention, 2K is essentially a single player game that just so happens to be multiplayer. If you play this by yourself, you still reap benefits of the rewards. It's definitely otw lol
@@Blanktester685 It did (Shadow of War, Deus Ex Mankind Divided). But now that fad’s faded and most single player games no longer have them.
In MyCareer/Park you have to spend ANOTHER $100 to get your player to be useable or you have to play a RIDICULOUS amount of time. Also if you play MyTeam they expect you to spend HUNDREDS of dollars a month to keep a reasonable squad.
Then they added an option pack where you could choose 1 of the top 3-5 new cards for FIFTY DOLLARS. And they do that TWICE a week. So they want $100 a WEEK, and a lot of people do at least one of those. It's disgusting.
Then your save file gets corrupted and you're not able to recover your player or the money you spent. Lmao
@VainRain69 or they nerf the build and then your sitting there with a player that clears the que every time he ques up
I stopped playing sports games years ago, it's sad because that was in my go to games for many years, but the ultimate team as the focus has dramatically dropped the quality of the game, I had bought the newest madden a few years ago and couldn't believe how unresponsive the gameplay felt, probably played it like 5 times and it just doesn't grab me the same way it used to
By this point I believe marketing executives off all those big publishers have come together in secret, wrote down a huge list of possible monetization tactics and then take turns each year implementing a new tactic from said list and see how the public reacts. And if the sales numbers did not suffer, the other publishers will follow and implement that mechanic in the following year.
Its not even secret, there are plenty of on the books "proffessional conventions" which is execs bragging to one another about their glorious ways of ripping players off and how much money they made. Huge circle jerk and idea sharing cess pool that they call "networking"
Sports games used to be something special, I'm glad I got to experience those times.
NBA Jam????
Gaming in general used to be special. Peak gaming was 1994 to about 2010. It's been downhill since then.
Yeah me to bro me to 😢
I would love to sit down with joe and tell him everything wrong with 2K, this is only thr TIP of the iceberg
AJ's worst nightmare has come back and he his rage is reaching nuclear levels.
Can't wait for the madden 24 rant
Same here.
Everyday i feel so blessed the last basketball game i loved was nba street vol 2 and i never felt the need to keep up with the new 2k entries. Living an amazing life.
Can’t be surprised a 2K game did this, they change next to nothing each year when a new one comes out. Side note, remember they dropped the Rookie difficulty a while back making it essentially necessary for any new or inexperienced players to buy VC to make their player good enough to compete, and this was back in the mid 2010’s.
Crazy thing is u pay $150 for game then 2yrs later they shut server down and u can’t play half of game anymore
On a more important note why in the world does a SPORTS GAME NEED BATTLEPASS?
To get your drinks otherwise your player(s) die of dishydration mid game
An annual sports game... I'm not sure why they don't just sell $70 roster updates for previous games. I mean they do, but just give up the charade.
One word. Money
Greedy corporate assholes.
As long as there are people with more money than sense that spend money on these scams, the big game companies will not stop it. Why should they?
STOP PLAYING ONLINE. Stick to franchise or season mode you fools
Im pretty sure the majority of the player base for these sports titles are kids, school yard props to be the best at that years sports game. We will never convince kids to not compete amongst themselves, its literally impossible EA has grabbed the kids by the pants and get on the Christmas and birthday lists every year, parents blindly pay to keep them happy. This alone is 3million + sales twice a year. Pocket money is spent on season cards not working income.
Joe plz keep doing what u are doing. Even if it feels hopeless sometimes. You give young people like myself hope when we are struggling for money to pay for power and food and turn to games for fun. I can only afford games like 2k and fifa when they go on sale for £10-£20 and when i do i feel miles behind the idiots who pay full price and then another £100 for their online teams while im stuck with 70 rated players against their "hall of fame ultra on fire #24 edition legend edition kobe bryrants" I kno after so long it feels like you are doing nothing but plz keep doing what you are doing. Even if its just to make people that are feeling like, hope that one day the ceos and suits will think about people like me
I've been a massive fan of your show for nearly 10 years and these types of videos always make me feel like someone with a voice represents me. Thank you for videos like this.
just buy better games man these games aren't made for gamers they are made to steal your money
At least with games like Elden Ring and Baldurs gate 3 there’s still hope for good games made by developers that actually care. Maybe with their success it will persuade other studios to start making quality releases again
Buy indie or AA games only
season pass isnt bad tho? wtf is everyones problem YOU dont need to buy it ima cook whoever regardless and i aint getting the season pass regardless who cares if your good then it wont matter
@@the._jayd3n128 You are the reason we have such heavy monetization in FULLY PRICED games now. Maybe you're too young to remember the days when you bought a game and you got EVERYTHING, without having to pay more. If you allow them to monetize and don't ridicule it and fight back, they will take over and ruin games even more.
A season pass in a full $69.99 game. Believe it or not, people will defend this and will buy the season pass just like normal.
we're at the point in the video game industry where every developer tries to appeal to a ~broader audience~ by turning every once unique franchise and IP into the same watered-down sludge of battle passes, subscriptions, cosmetic stores, limited timed events, tier skips, seasons, xp boost tokens, and in-game currency. It's no longer about making a fun game, but to make a game that squeezes the most money out of its player base.
One of the rare reviewers I will always support! Thank You, AJ!👏👏👏
They spend all their time figuring out how to steal money, And when an actual game comes out Like Baulder's Gate 3 They slam the dev's for making a great game. These AAA studio's need to be taught a lesson!
What do you mean? Are devs really slamming Baldurs gate ? How so???
Not really. A lot of it is badly worded comments towards consumers about keeping expectations in check about BG3 setting a new standard, content wise. Many are taking it as "we don't want to put the effort in."
From what I've seen no dev is "slamming" BG3 or Larian, more just telling gamers what to think and to keep their standards in check.
Really just a case of bad messaging and the community interpreting it differently where if they all just kept quiet there wouldn't have been a issue. A shit show of communication that in the end make devs look "lazy".
That's just my take though, if you look into it yourself you may see it differently.
We sports gamers have never been respected. Period.
I used to love 2K back in the day with like 2K3 and 2K4 with Allen Iverson on all the covers. The games were great and 0 monetization back then. Later in the early 2010’s when they slowly started adding gambling BS and the games were just the same as the previous year I got sick of buying them and giving them money every single year for the same game with hardly any updates besides the roster. It became so ridiculous, it’s a shame to see how far gone they’ve become even from a decade ago. RIP to the golden age of sports games (1999-2013)
So glad I stopped buying 2K games a few Years back 😭
I blame the gaming company first, after the second time I blame the people that keep buying the game.
I guess I'm one of the problems... 120$ limited edition every year... With..a.. Smile 😊
This is where wwe2k games will be heading, every wrestler will have a price and you will have extra shit for having a season pass. Its sad man
It already costs at least $100 to make one single player build , and not to mention that’s on top of the how much you paid for the game , and let’s not forget how much they charge in the MyTeam mode for packs and players($50 for a single card that will be useless usually 2-3 weeks after it release), oh and you have to pay for Gatorade and player boosts as well, as well as any cosmetics that you want for your player. Oh also have to pay for any bikes or skateboards to get around faster in the city.
This shit is criminal
Or just don’t buy it 🤷🏿♂️
Yup. Trying saying this in front of a 2k fan and he'll tell you that its not p2w and to just grind for it :).
These companies really testing how much shit they can do before backlash from players
They're not testing anything, these game companies know that most sports gamer "whales" (as these companies like to call them) don't give a fuck about the microtransactions and will shill out a shit ton of money on them or just fool a kid into spending a couple thousand dollars out of his parents credit card.
Companies like this are nickel and dining me out of gaming
Yep
This will happen in other sports games. I’d be surprised if it doesn’t get patched in to Madden next.
THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING ON THIS
I dont play sports games but I'm glad this popped up for me to see , more attention definitely needs to be brought up about this!
At this point, honestly, don't blame the devs nor the company. Blame the flock of sheep who are allowing these business practices to continue.
Stopped playing after 2k13. I checked the NBA 2K subreddit when I found out this was a thing, and it seems the core 2K community is finally waking up.
This is how you turn everything into a live service.
If it really were to go full on live service they'd make the game so it only works with a constant internet connection in addition to you needing the online subscription of the console you're paying for to even be able to PLAY the game.
Oh, and don't forget they'd shut the game down in 2 years, rendering your copy completely useless.
@@crazycockatoo5816 That's the next step. Also, consumers of this genre are already accustomed to yearly obsolescence, so 2 years is overly generous.
This is what I was afraid of when people started buying Diablo 4, which is also full price with a season pass. The game industry immediately jumps on these things.
I'm tired of these money grabs!
Nhl 24 is doing the same thing Joe! We need the angry army to be as loud as possible now!
Thats why I'm leaning more towards single player type games nowadays. Good old days of just loading up and hitting play are almost all over with multiplayer games or even Co-op games as well. Now its load up and get bombarded by 3-4 ingame pop up ads and battle passes.
Same. But when they try to add this shit into single player titles (already happening)
Don’t support it
I play both.
Not sure it will ever end, but so glad you keep it in the spotlight. It's legitimate theft, considering these things can disappear due to game bugs and support cannot bring it back, they may comp you ingame currency.
Don't worry, once we abolish the Bourgeoisie and the workers take control of the mean of production, then it will end
@@rileymachelle4088We are quite a ways off that, Marx. We might be farther from that today than we were a century ago.
Imagine a sports game coming feature complete..
I agree whole heartedly. I haven’t bought a 2k in 10 years and I haven’t bought a madden in at least double that. And I’m someone who grew up on video games and have played them for most of my life and I’m also someone who’s whole life is sports (WHO DEY). I play mlb the show and that’s it. No extra money spent for card packs or any of that bs, just pure franchise mode. By myself. And I love it.
nhl 24 brought back hitting into the bench and breaking the glass random times when hitting as well, and they had both of those in nhl 12, yes nhl 12, and claimed it to be so new and amazing
I remember when the industry first announced games would be 70 dollars but little did we know that the games would be incomplete! To get the characters like in fighting games you get the game for 70 and have to pay another 40 to get the charcter releases every "season" or just wait and buy the game of the years edition that is a hell of a lot cheaper than the original 70 dollars you spent.
Honestly- still better then what we could get, so yk what im not complating about good complete and well priced dlc anymore. Atleast one gives me more of what i liked when i what too in one purchase while rather then spend 150 on the game plus multiple seosen passes plus gambeling mecanics, plus microtransations, plus buffs, pluss buying the same clothing 2-8 times, plus buy each shoe socks shirts pants individualy, plus copy paste dlc that was cut from the game just to make it a seperated charge. ….. oh and also watching adds now in bewten matches.. … and to repeat it all next year cause they just shut down last year servera and have to restart all over again…. fuck you give me money, … i what normal good dlc back 😭😭
FIFA/EASFC looks like it will be doing something similar albeit on a lower level to this, some objectives that give extra XP towards seasonal progress are being gated off behind using kits that you can only purchase with FIFA/EASFC points, they've been sort of trialling them in the later months of FIFA 23.
it will never stop if people keep buying. They wont get the message until everyone stop buying
Dont forget, it cost $200 to upgrade a character
Yeah, 2k is literally just pay to play. It's been like this for years. The only reason nobody says anything is because the 2k streamer get paid yo play it over have contracts where they aren't allowed to.
I can't help but just laugh at this point with these sports games 😂
Whats worse you see these sport games still rack in the money like crazy, then other companies like oh you know we can just do that too.
Most of the people who play 2k are teen. It's teens getting scammed they don't know the value of a dollar. 2k is stealing from kids.
2k’s greed has been disgusting last few years