NBA 2K21 launched on current-gen consoles last month, and the reviews, for the most part, have been less than kind. So, if you were already annoyed with 2K’s annual NBA game, things are about to get worse, because they’ve now added unskippable advertisements to the game.
While you’re loading into a game in NBA 2K21, an advertisement for Oculus Quest 2 will appear, and even if your game is 100-percent loaded, you won’t be able to get past the advert until it has finished. This is a strategy that would make sense for a free to play game, but not for a $60 AAA game from a major developer.
You can take a look at the unskippable advertisement in the tweet below courtesy of user Okami13.
https://twitter.com/Okami13_/status/1317870403952513025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Of course, this isn’t the first time that 2K has done this with their annual NBA game, as they did the same thing with last year’s 2K20. So, it’s probably safe to assume that the same will be done with the game’s next-gen versions, even though the price will be increased for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions.
Last month, EA Sports tried putting ads in UFC 4 one month after it launched, and it was met with a ton of backlash from fans, which led to the developers pulling them from the game. However, it’s unlikely that 2K will do the same thing with 2K21.
“It is abundantly clear from your feedback that integrating ads into the replay and overlay experience is not welcome,” EA said after removing advertisments from UFC 4. “The advertisements have been disabled by the team and we apologize for any disruption to gameplay that players may have experienced.
“We realize that this should have been communicated with players ahead of time and that’s on us. We want to make sure our players have the best possible experience playing EA Sports UFC 4, so ad integration in the Replay and overlay experience will not not be reappearing in the future. Thank you for your continued feedback on EA Sports UFC 4.”
Aside from adding in-game advertisements, 2K also announced season two for 2K21’s MyTeam mode, which will “shine a spotlight on the NBA offseason and the young talent emerging in the NBA.” Also, the developers revealed the grand prize for season two, which is a pink diamond version of Blake Griffin.
NBA 2K21 is available now for current-gen consoles and will be available for next-gen consoles at some point, as 2K still hasn’t revealed its PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X release date.