You could say that one of the worst fears of NBA 2K fans have started coming true, as Stevivor reports that 2K Games' title will come with unskippable ads
While investigating a tip from one of the members of the NBA 2K21 community, Stevivor went ahead, found and recorded the proof of the game's unskippable ads. In this case, they were those of Oculus Quest 2, Oculus' standalone virtual reality headset.
The ads in question were nested in a loading screen, which apparently runs longer than the ads, so we suppose the description of "unskippable ads" is up for debate. Nevertheless, they cannot be skipped as you'll have to wait for the loading bar to fill up, where a PC with SSD didn't make much of a difference.
Stevivor confirmed that this is the case with PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of NBA 2K21, and we're not sure that players will take a liking to it. If you take into account the players who bought the $70, Mamba Forever Edition, over the promise of a free upgrade to PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X, then probably doubly so.
A lot has been said about Take-Two and 2K Games' decision to raise the price point to $70, and one of the things proponents said to calm everyone's nerves is that this is the best way to keep invasive ads from NBA 2K21. Well, there goes that argument, unless you consider ads on your loading screen as non-invasive, which you could technically argue in this case.
The last time we've seen something like this was EA's attempt to do something similar with UFC 4 and the in-game replays, and that didn't go down well, to put it mildly. Players ended up complaining so much that EA backpedalled on their decision and apologised. Whether 2K Games end up in the same hot water remains to be seen.
Thanks,
Stevivor
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NBA 2K18, realistic basketball simulation by 2K Games
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