Will XBOX 2K18 be a "Play Anywhere" title?

[JWL3]

Just curious. I'd love to be able to grind and run single player on my PC but play multiplayer on the console (more players, no cheating).

If 2K were smart, they'd make all 6 platforms (PS4, XBOX, PC, Switch, XBOX360, PS3) cross-compatible. Not necessarily combine the multiplayer bases, but at least have the user able to retain ratings and stats across each platform. I'd definitely pick up a copy of PC and XBOX then.

[Jonny2k]

No. Also, 2K hates PC and needs as much incentive as possible to destroy its sales.

[TBM]

No. Also, 2K hates PC and needs as much incentive as possible to destroy its sales.

[ThePointForward]

Yup, that's how companies behave - lowering their income and sales. New economy theory, courtesy of Jonny2k.

[JWL3]

Yup, that's how companies behave - lowering their income and sales. New economy theory, courtesy of Jonny2k.

Jonny's exaggerating, but they're effectively doing that by not curing the one major problem of the PC version. It is too damned easy to cheat. Why waste hundreds of hours grinding for VC and badges when you can download cheat engine, a table, and have a 10ft tall 99 HOF monster in 5 minutes? Then, you can beat legitimate players by chucking half court 3's and gloating in their face, reveling in the gratifying accomplishment of having worked for nothing and gotten a "win."

[Dee4Three]

2K could scrap the PC version whenever they want, they are not trying to sabotage it.

[Jonny2k]

Yup, that's how companies behave - lowering their income and sales. New economy theory, courtesy of Jonny2k.

Doesn't help when the one person that would be active within 2K with the PC community (Leftos) completely disappeared off the face of the Earth and when no Prelude is featured despite there being no limitations on PC that would prevent that plus a complete refusal to showcase the amazing roster our community creates and instead showcasing those rosters on console with horrible CAP faces. Not to mention how terrible the game is for PC with empty ghost servers for some players and the poor optimization for systems and the lack of a major difference between maxed out vanilla 2K and consoles. I wouldn't be surprised if the last 2K on PC we get is the one before the next-gen of consoles takeover.

[TBM]

You've got to be trolling.

[ThePointForward]

Leftos has a job and even though I do not know what exactly is in his contract, I doubt "community manager" is among his duties. If he shows up and posts, great. If he doesn't - it's not his job.
In fact, being publicly active about a game as a dev can paint target on your back, ask David Vonderhaar from Treyarch. Shit like death threats happen in this industry and can get stressful really fast. The fact that Trump is now US president could have brought even more stress to Leftos whose future in California might feel uncertain because of it.

Prelude was missing last year too - those litations are likely managerial ones as someone likely decided there is not enough players on PC to warrant a demo (which is not too good of a demo to begin with) when they do free weekends fairly often to bring in new players.

And I have no idea what you mean by didference between maxed out vanilla PC version and consoles. It's basically the same with better performance on PC if you can handle it.

The only feature missing in PC version I can think of is lack of voice controls.

[Andrew]

Leftos has a job and even though I do not know what exactly is in his contract, I doubt "community manager" is among his duties. If he shows up and posts, great. If he doesn't - it's not his job.
In fact, being publicly active about a game as a dev can paint target on your back, ask David Vonderhaar from Treyarch. Shit like death threats happen in this industry and can get stressful really fast. The fact that Trump is now US president could have brought even more stress to Leftos whose future in California might feel uncertain because of it.

Prelude was missing last year too - those litations are likely managerial ones as someone likely decided there is not enough players on PC to warrant a demo (which is not too good of a demo to begin with) when they do free weekends fairly often to bring in new players.

And I have no idea what you mean by didference between maxed out vanilla PC version and consoles. It's basically the same with better performance on PC if you can handle it.

The only feature missing in PC version I can think of is lack of voice controls.

Very well summed up.

[ThePointForward]

Only now I can see a the typos though, next time I'll try to write stuff like this when I'm not half asleep.

[JWL3]

I really don't understand why 2K treats the PC as the red-headed stepchild. Is it because it's cheaper by $10? Or that Microsoft and Sony pay them franchise fees or something? Or that customer support costs a lot more because everyone has different hardware?

Patches always arrive later on the PC. They don't do anything about cheats. (I hear glitchers/cheaters on console almost immediately get banned.) Server issues constantly (although this could be across all platforms).

[ThePointForward]

Money. Ultimately there is limited number of developer hours to put into the game and someone has to make a decision what will be done first.

That decision makers likely have data that indicate more money will be made if they do X rather than Y.

Now if PS4 and X1 were jailbroken they'd have more incentive because cheating would be spread out to these platforms as well.

[Andrew]

Or that customer support costs a lot more because everyone has different hardware?

That is one of the drawbacks of PC gaming and trying to support it. With basketball games specifically, I'd say one of the main factors is the smaller userbase. Sports gaming is a niche, basketball gaming is a niche within that niche, and PC basketball gaming is a niche within a niche within a niche.

Of course, PC gamers are still paying customers (well, mostly, I'd like to think), and are entitled to the same post-release support and to be treated with respect as consumers. The smaller userbase is always going to make it a lower priority, though.

[ThePointForward]

It's not like they aren't trying to get new people playing on PC with the free weekends, Humble Monthly, etc... I think PC version userbase is growing. Still comes down to some decision maker saying "I want the community manager that community hates to be in the game" instead of "OK, you have two weeks to eliminate cheating".

Ultimately this prevents PC to play with consoles in multiplayer. Eliminate cheating and you can interconnect the platforms. Some games already have multiplatform multiplayer.
It's not like NBA is a shooter game where mouse and keyboard destroys controllers. On the contrary, gamepad is clearly the superior option here.

[Andrew]

Cross-platform play might certainly offer more incentive to really crack down on hackers.

[Jonny2k]

Leftos has a job and even though I do not know what exactly is in his contract, I doubt "community manager" is among his duties. If he shows up and posts, great. If he doesn't - it's not his job.
In fact, being publicly active about a game as a dev can paint target on your back, ask David Vonderhaar from Treyarch. Shit like death threats happen in this industry and can get stressful really fast. The fact that Trump is now US president could have brought even more stress to Leftos whose future in California might feel uncertain because of it.

Prelude was missing last year too - those litations are likely managerial ones as someone likely decided there is not enough players on PC to warrant a demo (which is not too good of a demo to begin with) when they do free weekends fairly often to bring in new players.

And I have no idea what you mean by didference between maxed out vanilla PC version and consoles. It's basically the same with better performance on PC if you can handle it.

The only feature missing in PC version I can think of is lack of voice controls.

I really like your points. I was unaware of Leftos status and it's perfectly understandable that he deals with an administration that threatens his very existence. In regards to community manager, I'm appalled by the fact that the community manager we have right now, Ronnie2K, is 100% obvilvious to the existence of PC and refuses to answer to any of the concerns of the PC community. I am also saddened that 2K would rather showcase its Switch version or its major community event and completely neglect 2K on PC in real 4K. Somebody like Leftos was never attacked from what I recall and he wouldn't have to deal with the immature masses of the toxic console community. The intentional delay to September 15 instead of the promised September 14 date is just another slap in the face to our community.

[Andrew]

The only dates that 2K have been promoting throughout the preview season are September 15th (Early Tip-Off Weekend) and September 19th (street date, which stores are probably going to break anyway).