Posted Mon Apr 6, 2015 at 02:36 PM PDT by Brian Hoss
Silver lining found!
Update: Following the server shutdown and a week of trash status for 'NBA 2K14,' 2K has had a change of heart, and elected to trun the servers back on.
Here's the message from 2K,
2K has restored the NBA 2K14 servers and all online services. Beginning today, we are extending the support of all NBA 2K servers from 18 to 27 months following each release, giving our players more time to experience and enjoy the highest rated NBA simulation video game franchise. The opinions of our community continue to have a positive impact on our business decisions as we strive to create the best possible experience for all of our fans.
Original story follows.
Annual sports games have a very short lifespan, so short in fact, that as of March 31st, 2K shutdown the online servers for 'NBA 2K14.' This alone won't be a surprise to most players, after all, that was a game for last season, and the new game, 'NBA 2K15,' has been out since October. The problem is that this move to shut down the servers has crippled the PS4 and Xbox One versions of 'NBA 2K14.'
As detailed on Polygon, any MyCareer of MyGM player saves that were used online, are now useless. For context, whenever starting a new MyCareer or MyGM campaign, players can choose to play with the full set of features, like daily stat updates during the season, or they can play the scaled down offline versions. Once that choice is made, it cannot be changed. And now, any single player saves that used the online features can no longer be used. This trashing of single player progress on the PS4 and Xbox One has happened despite recent 2K promises that the server shutdown would not render these saves worthless. Likewise, the fact that so many players have poured money into the game to buy Virtual Currency for these modes is also meaningless.
From 2K,
"This means that if you had created a MyCareer or a MyGM online save file that was once connected to our servers it too sadly has retired and is no longer available for use and it would be necessary to re-create these files as offline saves. Sadly this may come as an inconvenience to some of you and if so we truly do understand and can feel for how upsetting this may seem as there always is a special bond that occurs between a player and their MyCareer save but all good things must come to an end and rest assured your MyCareer or MyGM went out while on top!"
Now to get my personal. My own 'NBA 2K14' Xbox One MyCareer save is worthless. This has no direct effect on me. You see, I loved the MyCareer mode. My character was drafted and spent half a season working his way off the bench for the Utah Jazz, during which time I'm improved at the game, the character got better, and several memorable episodes with coach and a brusque Jason Richardson. Unfortunately, about a month after release, as I was coming to grips with the fact that grinding for VC to try to improve my player was a laughably stupid waste of time compared with VC 2K will give players for money and through promotions, the game become impossible to play. As more players started the game during the month of December, the servers never seemed to work, and my single player campaign could not be played when the servers were down. I stop playing, and thought I would wait until the holiday rush cooled down.
Later, when the servers issues persisted, and the game's hunger VC became far too much for me to stomach, I got rid of the game. When 'NBA 2K15' came out, I very much wanted to play the MyCareer mode again, but I declined. The microtransactions and server dependancy is not what I want out of a 'NBA' game.
This move by 2K to completely finish those players who have stuck it out in 'NBA 2K14' is surprising and disappointing from one perspective and all-too fitting from another. I hope that 2K has a change of heart, and allows players to convert those online single player saves to offline ones. Those customers who bought the game, bought VC, and grinded through the MyCareer and MyGM modes deserve better.
Source: Polygon
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