NBA 2K is one of the saddest examples of a franchise being whittled down to nothing more than microtransactions. It all started when they made the MyPlayer starting OVR 60, forcing us to pay to even be decent, and it's only been getting worse since. But NBA 2K24 might finally have been the last straw.
If you're an NBA 2K fan then you know exactly why the current game is receiving such terrible reviews. But if you're just a tourist in the world of 2K, and you've come to watch the disaster unfold, here's a very brief explanation of why fans hate the game: You need to spend money or grind hundreds of hours to be decent. For a lengthier explanation we highly recommend you watch this video from Chris Smoove, he focuses on the awful new Badge system:
Right, let's get to those terrible reviews.
NBA 2K24 Slammed By Critics And Users
As you can see on Steam250.com's ranking of the bottom 100 reviewed games on Steam, NBA 2K24 is the second-worst reviewed game on the entire platform after Overwatch 2. And it could sink even lower than Overwatch 2 in the coming days, with more and more fans rejecting and refunding the game:
See y'all next yr by u/DrexlerL in NBA2k
Critics have been kinder on the game, hence its Metacritic rating is still 67 from publications. Although in terms of user score, the "fans" have given it a 2.3/10. Yep, this won't be one of the 2023 Game of the Year contenders.
Oof, this is bad news for 2K, hopefully it forces them to rethink their aggressive monetization system. Fingers crossed.