2K Beach has received three skin updates; Daily Bonus remains unfixed

[Andrew]

I posted a short Twitter thread about this, but I'd like to start a discussion on it here as well. In a nutshell, through five patches for NBA 2K21 Current Gen (which includes the PC port, of course), 2K Beach in MyCAREER has received three updates to its appearance: Halloween, Fall, and now Winter. However, the Daily Bonus in MyCAREER - normally a reliable source of extra VC to ease the grind - remains bugged. You can complete the Daily Bonus, but you won't be awarded the requisite amount of VC.

That cosmetic upgrades are being prioritised over a significant bug is troubling enough, but what also really stings is that VC-related issues that affect 2K are immediately patched, while they continue to drag their feet resolving problems that affect us. As I said on Twitter, VC exploits - and even a couple of legitimate grinding options - have been patched. A glitch on Next Gen resulted in a mass ban, which Ronnie 2K pathetically gloated about. Obviously 2K are going to address issues that affect their bottom line or disrupt the in-game economy, and fair enough. But fair's fair, and that means addressing the problems that affect the user experience as well.

The troubling thing is that the loudest voices in the community won't touch on this, because they know they'll lose their perks. In some cases, I would also suggest that they share 2K's contempt for the userbase, and will happily throw their fellow gamers under the bus, especially if it means they get to keep their access and other goodies. We deserve better, from 2K and content creators, but unfortunately this is what happens when one developer has a virtual monopoly in the basketball gaming space. Without competition, they can do as they please, including making content creators grovel and shill.

I don't relish the fact that I've become "that guy", the person who seemingly always has something negative to say. Echoing what I said on Twitter, I guess I'm from a different time, but a lot of these practices are shoddy, and it's dismaying to see people with influence supporting them. This is the kind of stuff we need to stand together on, but it seems a lot of people accept being mistreated as a customer/consumer as just a fact of life when it comes to video games in 2020. Frankly, that's rather depressing. We deserve better from the games, and the voices of influence in the community.

[Andrew]

Well, that's an interesting solution.