NBA 2K21 under fire for injecting unskippable ads into the game

NBA 2K21 players were greeted with unskippable in-game ads.

Well, here we go again. 2K has once again injected unskippable in-game ads into NBA 2K21.

According to reports, and verified by Stevivor, the ads play across all platforms — PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One — during a match loading screen.  The ad was for Oculus Quest 2 and attached to Episode 7 of MyTeam Season 2.

Players are unable to skip the ad, which runs about the length of the load session, and are also unable to edit their lineup until the ad has finished. The ads can also not be skipped.

Naturally, the addition of an in-game ad playing in a premium-priced title has been met with criticism from the community. The community subreddit is filled with criticism, much of it warranted.

“Its BS. It’s the principle, I spent 100 bucks on the Kobe, and you are going to force ads on me? That’s scummy [in my opinion],” one user said.

Obviously, this is a crummy business practice but it’s not surprising either. 2K did a similar thing with NBA 2K20 following the game’s launch last year. EA pulled a similar stunt with UFC 4 last month but ultimately pulled the ads in response to negative backlash from the community. One could argue that the implementation in UFC 4 was worse, however, since the ads played during in-match replays.

More from NBA 2K

• NBA 2K24: The one simple Badge that can help improve your shooting
• NBA 2K24: How to grade your players in MyTeam
• NBA 2K24 Soundtrack: Full List of Artists
• NBA 2K24: A Cool Event Idea For The City
• NBA 2K24 Soundtrack: Everything We Know So Far

Stevivor notes that the ad in NBA 2K21also played on PC with an SSD, which suggests that 2K is artificially extending the load time of a match to play the ad. This brings up an interesting question in regards to NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. With the consoles boasting almost instantaneously load times, will 2K continue to force players to sit through an ad before playing the game?

It’s not so much that the ad interrupts gameplay (at least for now) since it plays during a load screen. However, it’s the principle of the matter. We’re not talking about some budget title or free-to-play game. This is a premium sports title that costs anywhere from $59.99 to $99.99.

In fact, the next-gen version price will start at $69.99, with many publishers justifying the price increase with the rising costs of game development. Ad in the fact that NBA 2K21 is flooded with microtransactions, the addition of ads just seems like an overkill greed move.