The last couple of days have seen 2K Games mired in backlash due to unskippable advertisements popping up in NBA 2K21 post-launch. Players were specifically encountering an ad across all platforms in “MyTEAM Season 2, Episode 7.” The ad in question, which centered around the Oculus Quest 2, appeared in pre-game segments during loading screens. According to 2K Games, the way in which the commercial has been implemented isn’t correct.
A post on NBA 2K’s official Twitter account outright addresses the disappointment of fans. See the tweet below:
2K Community pic.twitter.com/rvMC9z0Wft
— NBA 2K21 (@NBA2K) October 20, 2020
As the post notes, these 2KTV ad placements have become more frequent in recent years. However, as far as 2K is concerned, their addition isn’t the problem. The problem is that the ads are now “impacting our players’ experience in a way we didn’t intend.” Apparently, the commercials are not supposed to feature during the pre-game intro segments. As such, players can expect the matter to be “fixed in future episodes.”
So there you have it. The 2KTV ad placements aren’t going away as many a fan hoped. Rather, 2K will implement them elsewhere, though exactly where remains unclear as of yet.
While some sort of fix is better than none at all, there are those who still find it odd that a full-priced game features unskippable ads at any level. Some fans are also questioning the high prices of VC (NBA 2K’s microtransactions) in a title with ads of this nature.
Unskippable ads first found their way into NBA 2K19 in the summer of 2019, several months after the title’s launch. For NBA 2K20, players began seeing them pop up weeks after release. Evidently, the trend continues and may very well resurface in next year’s entry.
NBA 2K21 is in stores now for the PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
[Source: NBA 2K on Twitter]
