NBA 2K24 shares a record with Overwatch 2 that no game wants
NBA 2K24, the latest installment of the basketball simulation series, has been predominantly received negatively on Steam due to a lack of new featur...
Hirun Cryer
Sept 16, 2023
NBA 2K24, the latest installment of the basketball simulation series, has been predominantly received negatively on Steam due to a lack of new features and an increase in microtransactions.
The game has reached the lowest rating on Steam, surpassing Overwatch 2, with only about 8% of players recommending it. Currently, it holds the top position in Steam's "Hall of Shame" list, known as the Steam 250.
Player complaints include the game being a "copy" of the previous year's version, lacking next-gen performance on PC, lacking crossplay functionality, experiencing glitches and crashes, and the MyCareer mode lacking a compelling storyline. Additionally, the console versions received mediocre ratings on Metacritic.
The recently released NBA 2K24 is now the lowest-rated game on Steam, a title previously held by Overwatch 2. Following its release last week, it can be said that the latest 2K Sports simulation has not garnered the desired response from the publisher.
Developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K, NBA 2K24 is the latest installment in the long-standing basketball simulation series. The game was released on September 8th, with the developer proudly highlighting it as the most aesthetically pleasing entry in the series. NBA 2K24 also marks the first game to support crossplay, although not on PC. However, many players felt that this was insufficient to compensate for the lack of new features in other areas or the significant increase in microtransactions.
The resistance against the new NBA 2K game is particularly intense, especially on Steam, where the game has received a predominantly negative rating. The Steam user reviews of the game have recently dropped to an incredibly low value, with only approximately 8% of players recommending the game at the time of this recording. This is sufficient to surpass Blizzard's Overwatch 2 as the lowest-rated game on the platform.
Launched in 2017, the website Steam 250 tracks user reviews for every game on Steam. While the website is primarily known for its list of the top 250 games on Steam, it also maintains a "Hall of Shame" featuring the least popular games on the platform. NBA 2K24 currently sits at the top of this list, only slightly surpassing Overwatch 2, which has an overall rating of approximately 9% on Steam. They also have the dubious honor of being among the only three AAA games in the bottom 10, alongside the remake of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
While perusing the Steam reviews of NBA 2K24, the lack of new features and the absence of next-gen performance on PC are the most prevalent grievances. One player described it as a "rehash" of the previous year's game, and many felt that 2K and Visual Concepts had merely done the bare minimum for the PC version. The PC port of NBA 2K24 also lacks crossplay, which is touted as one of the game's main selling points on consoles. Other points of criticism included the MyCareer mode lacking a narrative, the presence of hackers in multiplayer mode, and the proliferation of microtransactions. NBA 2K24 also suffers from a serious issue with glitches, and multiple users have reported experiencing crashes.
Some of these issues are specific to the PC version of NBA 2K24, but not all console players are having a great time either. The PS5 version has a lackluster Metacritic rating of 68, while the Xbox Series X version has a rating of 61. Meanwhile, the user ratings on Metacritic are not much better than the Steam reviews, with players giving NBA 2K24 on PS5 and Series X a rating of 2.4/10.
NBA 2K24 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Steam 250