Following the bumpy launch of the original NBA Playgrounds game on the Switch eShop, the sequel has a lot to prove. Fortunately, Saber Interactive has signed a deal with the basketball video game experts, 2K Sports.
In a recent phone interview with Polygon, Saber CEO Matthew Karch said 20 percent of the improvements in the sequel - Playgrounds 2 - had taken place over the last four to five months since 2K became involved in the development, with the publisher making "substantial" contributions.

2K's involvement in the sequel made it possible to include the sport's best and most iconic players including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and a number of others. These are players Saber would have never been able to obtain the rights to on its own, according to Karch.
The existing work 2K Sports has done with its own NBA games helped add and refine signature player animations in Playgrounds 2. It's also helped provide dedicated servers for online match-making and streamline the in-game purchases - which are mostly cosmetic items.
As for the future of Playgrounds, Karch said the series is likely to continue on:
I will say that 2K is not interested in one-offs...They see the long-term potential for this game.
Are you looking forward to NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 when it arrives on 16th October? Did you play the original game by Saber Interactive? Tell us in the comments.
[source polygon.com]
Comments 25
Can't wait to experience all those pay to win contributions!!
Yeah I am betting some of those are microtransactions, I will be shocked if there aren't any in the game.
@Pizzapasta
This, it's such a shame that a NBA Jam spiritual successor, a game I've been wanting for years, is being published by greedy 2K. I'm not going to get RDR2, not because it doesn't look like a great game, but because 2K/Activision have their money grubbing hands on it. I wouldn't be surprised if RDR2 has its own form of microtransaction currency and in-game shop in its singleplayer like AC Odyssey. I'm not even going to bring up its online component, because after how much money they made off of shark cards in GTAV, I can only imagine how grindy and terrible its economy is going to be.
Just give me a new NBA Jam please. Playgrounds 1 was trash and I'll be skipping Playgrounds 2. Fool me once. Smh.
Playgrounds one was superb. Not sure why it still gets so much hate. It took time to learn and get into but once it was mastered it was so much fun.
This looks to have addressed most my issues.
Can’t wait
Most likey will have pay to win system (sigh.) And i was actually looking forward to this game as i really liked first one.
It’s frustrating that because of all the licensing, player agreements and other legal stuff, the original NBA Jam will probably never be released as some form of “virtual console” game
I'd love it if they gave MJ a special move that turned him into an animal that headbutts the ball into the hoop. Goat, maybe?
I’ll wait for reviews, and not from nintendolife
@baller98
Definitely
I almost bought the original. I'll definitely look into this one
So it's going to be jam packed with mirco-transactions, most likely being pay-to-win. Yeah, no thanks, I'm done with 2K.
I'm I being cynical when I read 2k shaped 20% of the games as the new game will be 20% pure micro transactions. I started playing assassin's creed this weekend and it's unbelievable how Unisoft distroyed the game with mind numbing grind just to try and sell you a speed up package! I'm no longer looking forward to read dead as I'm sure 2K loaded that full of the things also!
@BarFooToo
Exactly, a lot of reviews have actually stated that Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a better experience if you purchase the experience boost. That's utterly pathetic.
I’ll be interested if 2K actually fixed the shooting. It was atrocious in the first Playgrounds.
@Dalarrun Yep, I was really pissed it was not highlight more in the reviews. I would have saved my coin and not bought the game and others could have make informed choices. Now it seems I'm either out of pocket with a game that has horrible progression and is not fun at all or I reward Ubisoft for their bad behaviour by having to spend more so they can fix the game they bloke on perpose to to shake down players. I'm done with the game and with Ubisoft. Just cancelled my pre order for starlink also
@BarFooToo
The sad thing is, Ubisoft DOES publish great games that aren't riddled with predatory monetization practices. It's ironically their most popular, big AAA ones that are the worst about it. I'm glad to see people take a stand against this sort of thing. I feel so sorry for people who have very limited game taste and just buy the annual sports, shooter, or Ubisoft open world game and then get defensive and tell us that we have to get used to it. There's so many games out there more worth their time and money, but as soon as they find out it's an indie game they dismiss it. At the same time I don't feel sorry for them, because it's these people who are paying for microtransactions and supporting this stuff.
Paying real money to skip gameplay leaves me dumbfounded.
well you can at least earn experience points. you'll get rewarded for evertyhing. That's why i love RPG. You get for what you do
So more players and micro transactions?
FAIL!
I was hopeful they would have fixed the absolutely terrible gameplay, but instead there just trying to charge more for it.
PLEASE if you are considering buying this game don't! It does look fantastic, but, unless they changed it from last year, the gameplay is horrible, just horrible!
@Dalarrun @BarFooToo huh? Im 10 hrs in and i haven’t experienced any inconvenience in the progression? I didnt even know there was a marketplace in the game until prople commented that thwre was DLC
@Wanjia I'm afraid if you're looking for the NBA Jam experience, you need to go back to playing NBA Jam. This was a horrible parody that doesn't deserve anyone's time.
@RadicalThe_Tay I imagine it wouldn't be hard for EA to renew agreements and simply patch the rosters over the original framework of the game. NBA Jam OFE was the pinnacle of the series IMO and I'd kill to see it on Switch and it's current gen brethren.
I wonder if they kept the awful shot meter in this one. That killed the first game, in my opinion. It was too hard to make a shot. I'm a hard pass on this one. Give me NBA Jam!
All I wanted is a NBA Jam clone. Playgrounds failed to deliver so I wont be revisiting the series.
2K Bringing the MicroTransactions in.
2k right now = $$$$$$$$$$ KaChing $$$$$$$$$$$
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