2K has pushed its latest basketball game, NBA 2K21, pretty hard this year. A video showing off NBA 2K21's next-gen gameplay made it clear where the company's efforts are in creating a next-gen basketball sim experience.
However, while 2K seems committed to pushing NBA 2K21's technical limits, fans are less than happy with the game. Complaints seldom center around the way the game looks (with a few glitch induced exceptions), but rather other aspects. These range from gameplay features that feel out of whack to non-gameplay features that no one likes. In an effort to make their voices heard, many have taken up #Make2KFunAgain on Twitter. The message hit #1 in video game trending on Twitter and has held there as of this article.
Some of the tweets admit that the tweeter has not played 2K21 and simply wants to help the hashtag, and other tweets call these out. Still others have a cynical tone, wondering if the hashtag will help anything while people are still making in-game purchases. However, for the most part, the Tweets list players' grievances with the game. Rather than issues like the unskippable ads the game came under fire for, many of these are strictly gameplay complaints.
The numerous gameplay, monetization, and other poor quality decisions are further compounded by NBA 2K21's approach to next-gen. Not only does the title cost on next-gen consoles, there is also no free update for most versions of the game. Many players would rather not pay extra to transfer what they consider a poor game to a new console generation. However these same players are already devoted to the series for the same reason they have been for many years: it's the only official NBA basketball simulator available.
2K has addressed complaints about NBA 2K21 before, so it's possible that #Make2KFunAgain will bring real change to the game. The response to the backlash over the ads was very swift and promised change, but that is clearly not enough for many players. Also, that response was only over a non-gameplay aspect, while many #Make2KFunAgain complaints are over moment to moment problems.
As of this article there has been no official response from 2K, but odds are complaints won't go away as NBA 2K21 is explored on next-gen consoles. This is especially true for anyone using a female MyPlayer avatar, as they can't explore the game's newest feature.
NBA2K21 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
