2K Games Joins EA With More Pathetic Last-Gen PC Ports!

I’m not ignorant of the fact that when it comes to sports gaming titles, the console market is vastly more lucrative for publishers than PC. With this in mind, therefore, I can never pretend that I’m overly shocked when a PC version/port is a bit below par, or in many instances, isn’t bothered with at all! – If there’s one thing that really grinds my gears though, it’s when the PC release is announced, but it becomes obvious pretty quickly that this version is getting treated with nothing more than cynical laziness. Something representative of absolutely minimal effort just to simply add to a title’s overall financial bottom line!

With this in mind, therefore, if you were looking forward to checking out NBA 2K23 on PC, then it seems that following a report via DSOGaming, this one might be worth skipping (or more accurately vocally boycotting) as 2K Games has confirmed that this so-called ‘new’ release will not be based on the PS5/Xbox Series X release. Yes, similar to what EA has been doing with its sports titles for way too long now, 2K Games has confirmed that the NBA 2K23 PC release is going to be a last-gen port!

NBA 2K23 – 2K Games Mugs PC Gamers Off With Last-Gen Port!

As above, I can’t profess to be overly surprised about this announcement and as part of an updated FAQ on the title, 2K Games has said (in regards to the PC version release):

“This is something the team is passionate about and will continue to investigate what is possible for the franchise in the future. For now, the focus was on assuring NBA 2K23 was optimized for the new consoles (PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S), while also making sure the experience remains fresh and innovative for players on other platforms.”

It does, however, get more than a little embarrassing when this quote is practically word for word the exact same line they gave PC gamers prior to NBA 2K22 releasing last year! – Yes, it would appear that 2K Games is so lazy with the PC version that they can’t even be bothered to write another dismissive comment on the subject of last-gen ports!

What Do We Think?

They’ll clearly be a number of people who think that, rather than complaining, PC gamers should be happy that NBA 2K23 is coming to PC at all. No, it might not be based upon the latest next-gen console version, but 2K Games could quite easily decide to just not bother at all, right? – Well, in that respect, yes, I think that’s a perfectly valid argument to make.

To make the counterpoint though, there is no solid reason why the PC version couldn’t be (visually or engine-wise) at least on par with the upcoming PS5/Xbox Series X release. There does seem to be this overall ethos from both 2K Games and EA that the vast majority of PC gamers are playing on hardware that’s 10-15 years old and can barely handle turning on let alone running titles with high-end graphics!

Put simply, this ‘legacy edition’ BS really needs to end, but here we enter the remits of a double-edged sword. If people don’t buy NBA 2K23 on PC because it’s the last-gen version, 2K Games executives won’t think that this was because they gave us a crap version. They’ll simply presume that they were correct to not prioritise the port in the first place because PC isn’t an ‘important’ platform in terms of sales.

It’s a crap situation, but honestly, one I don’t really have a good answer for solving. Well, other than just not buying any version of the game regardless of the platform. This is a sports title though, so, you know, that ain’t gonna work. And if you need proof of that, just look at the constant criticism the FIFA franchise has received over the last 10 years while consistently remaining in the top 10 sales charts!

What do you think though? – Let us know in the comments!