2K Games is repeating history with their college basketball video game, at the expense of the consumers

In June, the sports gaming world was filled with excitement thanks to a new announcement from Electronic Arts that their beloved College Basketball series would return. EA shared that they had plans for a fully inclusive, standalone college video game featuring all 365 Division I schools. EA’s plan included both men’s and women’s basketball teams, unlike their previous titles.

On Sept. 4, that excitement came to a screeching halt as EA withdrew its college basketball game proposal after its competitor, 2K Games, gained enough university licensing to integrate selected teams into a new NBA game. EA’s proposal stipulated that their license would be exclusive, meaning that no other third-party competitor could license the imaging, logos, and likeness of schools for their games.

EA seemed like an obvious choice to many sports video game fans to make the next college basketball game, mainly due to the success of their recently revived College Football series and the fact that EA has produced college basketball games for nine years longer than 2K had. 

The Collegiate Licensing Company, or CLC, which handles partnerships between brands and colleges, took pitches from three companies to determine who would receive the rights to create a college basketball game, two of which were EA and 2K. The CLC officially recommended that all athletic conferences accept EA’s proposal, allowing the company to bring back a standalone college basketball game.

The CLC’s original memo laid out the terms of EA Sports’ proposal and confirmed that EA was the only company that had submitted a bid for a standalone simulation game featuring every Division I school. Due to a nondisclosure agreement signed by the companies, the CLC was unable to share the details of 2K’s proposal to the public for some time. 

After news of the CLC’s recommendation, 2K took their own route by deciding to directly contact colleges with their proposal and asking them to delay their approval of EA’s game. 2K’s breach of the NDA enabled the CLC to share 2K’s plan.

2K’s proposal was, according to the memo, a “non-exclusive model for a limited number of D1 basketball teams that would be a 5v5 tournament gameplay format integrated into its NBA 2K game.” 2K’s initial proposal also promises just a limited number of teams: 16 total in Year One, 32 in Year Two and 68 in Year Three. 

2K opting to ignore the CLC’s official recommendation resulted in EA not earning exclusive rights for certain teams, leading to them rescinding their plans for a college basketball game. 

This, however, isn’t the first time 2K’s search for licensing ended a beloved EA Sports franchise.

In 2005, the baseball video game market was flooded with options. In terms of licensed 3D simulation games, there were three on the market: Sony Interactive’s MLB 2006 (the predecessor to MLB The Show), 2K’s Major League Baseball 2K5 and EA’s MVP Baseball 2005.

MVP Baseball 2005 was EA Sports’ brainchild. It was the third entry in the MVP Baseball series, and to this day is widely revered as one of the greatest sports video games of all time. 

In response to EA’s new deal with the NFL leading to John Madden’s exclusively working with EA, 2K ran to MLB, MLBPA and MLBAM and signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract. The contract held from 2006 to 2012 and allowed only 2K and console manufacturers Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to produce MLB games. 

The MLB 2K series lasted until 2013 when 2K announced they would only focus on NBA and WWE games moving forward. Meanwhile, due to the contract, EA was forced to work quickly to transition from an MLB simulation to a college simulation, resulting in MVP 06: NCAA Baseball and MVP 07: NCAA Baseball

2K abandoning their MLB franchise left consumers out to dry, and for 12 years, the only Major League Baseball simulation game available on consoles was MLB The Show. Until 2021, MLB The Show was a PlayStation exclusive, meaning that for eight years Xbox and Nintendo players had no MLB video game.

The industry consensus surrounding the baseball licensing issue was that while EA was creating a superior product, 2K abandoned their franchise. It seems likely that college basketball is headed in a similar direction, with 2K not even committing to a full-fledged game and only planning to produce a paid DLC.

For the past few years, many have believed that the video game industry has been heading in a downward spiral, prioritizing making profit instead of creating enjoyable content for the audience. The current basketball controversy gives deja vu to fans of EA’s MVP Baseball, who fear history is repeating itself. This controversy leads to less competition in the market, continuing the trend of 2K dominating the basketball space, despite 2K not committing to a standalone game, which is what fans have hoped for over the last decade.