If you were holding out hope for a return to NFL 2K or MLB 2K, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath. In a new interview with Game File’s Stephen Totilo, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about the status of 2K’s NFL game. Unfortunately, it isn’t happening anymore, but there’s hope that 2K could try again if the opportunity arises.
“What we hoped would come to fruition creatively did not,” Zelnick said. “Some of the stuff we tried to do didn’t work out creatively.”
Ultimately, it sounds like 2K couldn’t put together a compelling enough experience worth putting out as opposed to some business disagreement with the NFL.
The last NFL 2K game to be released was Visual Concepts’ ESPN NFL 2K5, which enjoyed critical and commercial acclaim upon its 2004 launch. Soon after, EA Sports acquired an exclusive rights agreement with the NFL to be the sole creator of NFL video games, giving Madden the space to itself.
Zelnick was also asked about a possible return to 2K’s MLB series, which he doesn’t see happening: “Probably not,” he said. “We had a tough history with MLB. It’s no secret there [that] we lost a great deal of money with them. And I don’t like losing money.”
2K Sports’ MLB deal ran from 2006–2012, and effectively killed competition like EA’s MVP Baseball. But the series ended with MLB 2K13 after consistent financial losses and poor critical reception, leading to the cancellation of the franchise in 2014.
While Zelnick seems burnt out on baseball, NFL seems to be a more lucrative idea that he’s willing to explore again should the opportunity arise. 2K’s NFL game was going to be more arcade-y, as EA has exclusivity over football action simulation games. It’s unclear exactly what 2K was planning to differentiate itself, but it may have been more along the lines of MLB The Bigs, which was an exaggerated and over the top version of an MLB game.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
