2K has just announced something that has infuriated its fans, that those who were saving up for the top Collector Level reward in NBA 2K24 would no longer get the card they wanted, Kobe Bryant, the iconic NBA legend who died in 2020.
In a statement, they detailed the change without offering an explanation as to why it was happening:
“Players who achieve the top Collector Level will now receive an Option Pack for two picks out of ten previously released 100 OVR Cards,” 2K said. “We appreciate that players have dedicated time and effort throughout the year to achieve this reward and 2K is committed to ensuring players continue to earn valuable content as their reward.”
Players view this as a last-minute bait and switch, though the Terms of Service of the game do appear to account for something like this happening, so there is likely no recourse.
First reported by The Washington Post’s Herb Scribner, he reiterates that 2K said in the pre-order phase, the card would be available in April, but it still wasn’t with just hours left to go in the entire month, and then this statement was released. No reason has been given and Scribner says he’s investigating if could be something having to do with licensing rights, but 2K did not comment on that one way or the other. Instead, we now have a list of cards that players can pick two from instead of Kobe. That is:
- Eclipse Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Iconic Michael Jordan
- All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Bracket Busters Magic Johnson
- Maestro Drik Nowitzki
- Nebula Tracy McGrady
- Wild West Shaquille O’Neal
- Vortex Luka Concic
- Gladiator LeBron James
- Leap Year Kevin Garnett
Needless to say, players are incredibly upset that 2K would swap out rewards just hours before the deadline to release the Kobe card, and many are swearing off supporting the company in the future. Again, this was announced months and months ago, that Kobe would be the Collector Level top reward. Here’s what they said in a blog post that’s still up:
“Collector level rewards have always been important in MyTEAM, and last year the rewards came as surprises with a hidden end goal. So let’s look forward a few months and reveal that Kobe Bryant will be the top reward in the Collector Level, and this reward will be available in April, during Season 6. There is plenty of time between now and then, so let’s come back to launch and talk about our collections and their rewards coming next week.”
It is unclear why this change happened and why is was not communicated until the last possible second. Something went very wrong, but 2K may now pay the price as avid players may no longer trust them. We’ll see if they manage to salvage this but for now, it’s not looking good.
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