On Friday, September 6, popular video game franchise NBA 2K released their latest title in the series, NBA 2K20. With each title making big changes to different aspects of the game, many fans were excited to see what 2K had planned for this year’s title. However, to say the release for the game went terrible would be an understatement.

     Releasing every year in September, the NBA 2K series is seen as one of the most successful sports franchises ever created, however, the recent launch of NBA 2K20 was a disaster, with most core elements of the game not working, leaving the game feeling incomplete to players.

     The first major problem was the servers, which allow players to play with each other online without any interruptions or delays. For the launch of 2K20, the servers weren’t able to hold everybody trying to play. Without access to the servers, the game was extremely limited, mostly because almost every gamemode is centered around playing others. 

     Another problem was the speed of games. While other titles in the 2K series feature fast players and quick games, NBA 2K20 went for a more realistic approach, slowing down players. With fans not used to the slower tempo of the game, they were quick to ask for the speed to be reverted to be more similar to previous games. Developers quickly noticed, and modified it to feel more like previous games.

     Arguably the biggest problem, however, was the crashing. When a game crashes, it closes the game and forces itself to restart. This isn’t usually too much of a problem for games, as it rarely happens. For 2K20, however, the game crashed after almost everything, like when you opened up certain menus, finished a game, and even when you tried to play with your friends. 

     All of these issues combined together to outrage fans of the series. Together, they created to hashtag #fix2k20, and attempted to use their influence to change the game for the better. The hashtag was quickly trending, and change was soon to follow. A couple days after, a huge update was released, which fixed some of the issues players were having, but still left some untouched.

     So far, NBA 2K20 has been very disappointing to fans of the series. The game has improved since launch, with more stability updates being released, but the damage may be done for some players new to the series. With one of their worst launches to a game being presented to them, it will be interesting to see how 2K will respond with support for the game.