In a move shocking no one who has ever played it, 2K Games is shutting down NFL Playmakers after one year. The underwhelming football card game simply never caught on. On June 30th, its servers will shut down, and it will no longer be playable. All players will get 1,000 tokens.
It was a disappointing return to NFL Football for the company that gave us the still-revered, and for many still unsurpassed, NFL 2K5. Making matters worse, the failure of this game may have destroyed any hope for an NFL 2K revival.
MIke Straw of Insider Gaming heard from his sources that the NFL was not happy with Playmakers' poor reception. EA is now even more confident that they will retain the Madden franchise's exclusive rights to NFL simulations.
Look, this was never a fair fight. A football card game that nobody asked for was never going to do as well as a simulation game. That said, if you were going to be evaluated on one NFL product, you would not want NFL 2K Playmakers to be it.
I'm somebody that loves both football and card games. When I first played Madden Ultimate Team, I was profoundly disappointed that it wasn't an actual card game. Playmakers was the thing I thought I wanted. After writing about its release, and playing it for a whole evening, I kind of forgot it existed. Not the reaction you want from the person who wants to evangelize your product.
I'm waiting for somebody to properly marry the NFL with collectible card gaming. But the many failed efforts in this space don't inspire a whole lot of hope.