NBA 2K has evolved from yet another hyped product in the gaming world. It is now a cultural moment and the intersection of music, pop culture, fashion, sneakers and of course basketball has taken the franchise to a height that no other game can match. With the latest edition, NBA 2K23, the game made history after announcing J. Cole as the first-ever rapper to grace the cover of NBA 2K with the Dreamer Edition. While it was certainly a surprise that 2K announced a cover like this, especially so late in the rollout, the trend of the game itself probably hinted that it would someday. Even with that being said, this wasn’t even 2K’s idea, it was J. Cole’s.
“Three and a half years as he dipped in on Saturday Night during one of the All-Star Weekend breaks, J. Cole said, ‘Ronnie, I’d love to be in MyCareer and think about the idea around it,'” Ronnie 2K tells Complex . “I’ve worked with our team to bring this to life, but it was very fitting to work with him. When we released that tease, everyone thought it was going to be a different basketball player…it allows us to living in fashion, culture, music where 2K is now sitting at the table.’
J. Cole’s cover is one of four different covers for the new edition of 2K and the other featuring Michael Jordan, Devin Booker and a duo of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. NBA 2K23 talk has been buzzing on social media lately, and NBA ratings have plummeted this week. Kevin Durant even took a playful jab after his 2K rating was released.
The week of the game’s release, we spoke to Ronnie Singh aka Ronnie 2K about the decision to put MJ on the cover of LeBron, why Devin Booker was chosen over other NBA stars, MyCareer, ProAm, gameplay and more.
(This interview has been edited and abridged for clarity.)
What’s the most important thing you’re excited about for NBA 2K23, as someone who’s not in the process?
It’s always great to have Jordan on the cover, and to work with him, and the statement that makes us about our game: the best of all time. It really speaks volumes about what we were trying to do from a marketing perspective, but also what the game translates. We have the Jordan challenges. They’re back, but they’re bigger. Better. There’s been a lot of buzz about, all of them, and then the one that’s going to be really emotional, and the one I’m most looking forward to going back to and reliving is Kobe. The first match against each other. It’s going to be really fun. I’m a big MyTeam player, so I was pretty excited about more contracts and triple threat online co-op.
You guys recently announced that J. Cole has his own cover. How did that happen and why?
Dipping in for three and a half years during one of the All-Star Weekend Saturday Night breaks, J. Cole said, “Ronnie, I’d love to be in MyCareer and brainstorm ideas about that.” I’ve worked with our team to bring this to life, but it was very fitting to work with him. But I love that it’s called the Dreamer Edition because it was one of those dreams that manifested itself over several years. It took a long time to get this done. Obviously its integration in the basketball world and playing abroad and doing a lot of great things in the basketball world. When we released that tease everyone thought it was going to be another basketball player… So you know it was a dream come together and so excited that it allows us to live in fashion, culture, music where 2K is at the table now.
Do you see this becoming something with covers now? An actor, a non-athlete or another rapper?
Yeah, I mean, we’re starting to live in places that aren’t just basketball or just video games. So I definitely think that’s possible in the future as we continue to grow in the cultural ecosystem and where that might take us, I mean, who knows? Right? We talk about how musicians want to be athletes, athletes want to be musicians. You hear it all the time, you see it. You saw that Serge Ibaka thing last week when it got 35 million plays on Spotify. In a way it’s like they live together. And so 2K’s responsibility in that is to just be as authentic as possible and push the boundaries of culture. So whatever we can tap into that, I think that’s something that’s going to excite us.
I have to ask you this. Many fans wondered why 2K23 wasn’t a joint cover between LeBron and MJ for the Legend Edition? Have you considered LeBron?
I know 23 just jumps in everyone’s head, but I think putting Jordan on a cover was a lot more of a statement about the greatest of all time, and we felt like this was the greatest 2K of all time, so we made a statement by putting it there. It’s the year of greatness and we felt like Jordan was the move. We’ve clearly collaborated with LeBron on previous covers, and we’ll do it again. He’s a great partner of ours, but I mean, it’s always been Jordan to us.
I know the fans want Kobe for 2K24. Is there a chance for that?
Who knows? We are so excited about 2K23 right now. Twenty-four is far enough, but we have those conversations early, and we’ll just have to see.
At what point do you start to focus on the next 2K?
Well, I don’t think we’ll ever move on. Obviously the game will stay in the life cycle for a few years. We just released 2K22 content a week or two ago. The basketball world will be 365 and 24/7 and with our game it will become the authentic basketball. It must be the same. What you’re asking me is, when do we start thinking marketing wise about covers, and stuff, and I think it’s a constant conversation like we’ve been talking about 2K24 and 2K25. And maybe this is how I can answer a question I’m sure is coming, what the Devin Booker cover is and how do we get to Devin?
yep.
There are three ways we think about cover stars. Number one is they have to play the game, and with Devin it was pretty easy. He won the ESPN Player’s tournament a few years ago during the pandemic. He is one of the best 2K players out there, so we can say that this is the best gameplay. why don’t we have the best 2k player to represent in the NBA. Then the track of an athlete is good. Devin is so young and he’s twenty-five. He’s really just scratching the surface. He is one of the youngest ever to score 10,000 points. His path to greatness is just the beginning. The third point is, how do they fit in with the story we’re trying to tell with our game and with our marketing. And so this year was all about greatness, and we felt like we could put the best 2K player on the cover.
So you’re not basing your coverage choices entirely on the most recent season?
It definitely helps as I said in the trajectory, as does Devin. It is clear that he is emerging and developing. You look at our previous few athletes, you know the Kyrie and Dame, like these guys who were at the top and our cover said something like, ‘yes, you’re great, but we also expect you to stay great and play for championships and like this.
For you personally, you get quite a bit of unfair slander because people think you’re in control and just make every decision for the game. How have you dealt with that over the years?
Well, I know I work with about 400+ of the most amazing people in the video game industry, people who are trying to take this game to a whole other level and I’m one of them. So I focus on what I can focus on. And that’s to help tell the story of how we become this cultural icon and how we push its boundaries. And you know, as for the trolls, I’m not really bothered by that sort of thing because I know what I’m doing. The people I work with know what I’m doing. Any mentions about servers and who fixes the game, that’s not my role at 2K. But you know, I just love it because those people love the game enough that they’re involved in that conversation and want us to get better.
You have just released the MyCareer trailer. Some people may say they just want to play basketball because the storylines are a lot to them. What do you have in mind for My career over the next few years or so, as you’ve hit pretty much every type of storyline I’m in the mood for right now?
I disagree, you know, like every year I think, how are we going to make it bigger? How are we going to do better? How are we going to tell stories? And there are so many stories that develop around basketball. There are many access points, and that’s the beauty of it. In the basketball game, there are many ways to reach the league. So I don’t really agree with that. I think we are just at the beginning of what career could be and how we continue to develop that. our desire is to be as authentic to the game as possible for as long as possible. So I’m sure we’ll find another storyline that we connect with and want to tell that story and let it capture the imagination of the people that they are.
Finally, ProAm used to be a variant of Crew Mode. Are there any changes that are ProAm wise even it was like being in an arena like the crew used to be, things kinda twisted on that side of things?
I don’t want to break any information because I’m not sure when this interview will go live. I will say that our ProAm community is very important to us. Five-on-five competitive play is where those relationships are fostered. So it’s always something we think about and keep evolving. There’s a lot of customization out there that really gets the ProAm community excited. We will just continue to lean on that and continue to grow and develop that. I really think it’s kind of a future that five-on-five basketball, which allows us to kind of simulate what role each person plays on a job and working with other people.
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