NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on how the lines between Triple-A gaming and mobile gaming have well and truly become blurred.
We’re living in the age of hot takes, clickbait, and extreme opinions. With that being said, as much as algorithms may not reward it, I prefer to steer clear of hyperbole and reactionary viewpoints in my content. To that end, if I express a strong and potentially controversial opinion, it’s because I mean it. I don’t want to devalue adjectives, be they positive or negative. If you call every new release the best, or frequently declare games to be garbage without further explanation, then eventually you undermine your credibility. Well, your credibility should be in question, anyway!
Mind you, sometimes harsh, unvarnished criticisms that may seem like hyperbolic insults are in fact fair and accurate. A good example is the assertion that Triple-A games are becoming more and more like mobile titles. There’s plenty of evidence that the suits at major studios have taken notes on mobile gaming’s ability to milk gamers for recurrent revenue, and pushed for those mechanics to be incorporated into console and PC games. As such, it hasn’t gone unnoticed how games like NBA 2K now have features and economies akin to free-to-play titles. Recently, I had an experience that made it clear just how blurred the lines are between Triple-A and mobile gaming.
There’s a darts game on mobile that I’m rather enjoying at the moment. I hesitate to name it lest this come across as a sponsored article, which I don’t do. In any case, I discovered this free-to-play mobile darts game thanks to an interactive ad on another game, decided to give the full version a shot, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the teaser wasn’t misleading. It’s an enjoyable distraction, though as you’d expect from a free-to-play mobile title, it’s chock full of ads. Finish a game? There’s an ad. Want to unlock the daily freebies? Watch a bunch of ads. Want extra chances in the career mode, or have a few turns of the mini-game for free? You guessed it: ads.
That’s just the nature of the beast with F2P mobile gaming, of course. Notably, the ads that play after finishing a game can be skipped earlier than the ones that you choose to watch for rewards, so they’re not as intrusive. You can also get rid of the “mandatory” ads for a period of time with any in-game purchase of currency, loot boxes, and so on, but as a No Money Spent gamer, I just endure them. I won’t go into all the specifics, but there are multiple currencies for different functions, parts to customise your darts, cosmetic items for your avatar, and rewards for completing objectives and logging in every day. There’s also seasonal content, and season passes to obtain better rewards.
At this point, I’m sure you’ve realised where I’m going with this. That sounds a lot like what MyTEAM and MyCAREER in NBA 2K have become! There are incentives to log in every day, with the potential of a big prize at the end of the week if you do. Season passes grant access to premium rewards that aren’t available on the free tier. There are multiple currencies in MyTEAM: VC, MTP, and Tokens. Flashy, exciting effects are displayed when you open loot boxes – in this case, card packs – especially when you pull a great reward. It’s possible to get currency and content without paying, but it’s grindy and unrelated to core gameplay; like watching ads in a F2P darts game.
Obviously, I’m not claiming to be the first person to notice how blurred the lines have become between Triple-A and mobile gaming. This also isn’t the first time that I’ve discussed the mechanics in NBA 2K’s modes being very reminiscent of a free-to-play mobile title. However, the astonishing similarities between a F2P darts game and two of the most popular modes in a Triple-A basketball title really emphasise how big budget releases are taking cues from concepts that mobile gaming pioneered. It’s why I don’t want NBA 2K, or a returning NBA Live, to ever be free-to-play. If you think those mechanics are bad now, imagine how it’ll be if they can say “hey, it was free”!
However, while similarities such as microtransactions, season passes, and in-game advertising are all troubling ways that Triple-A titles such as NBA 2K are imitating mobile gaming, it was the daily bonuses that inspired a truly sobering thought. As I was running through them in the darts game one day, I was suddenly reminded of my old routine in MyCAREER. Fire up the mode, collect the daily prize, shoot around on MyCOURT in between games for extra VC, play trivia for a chance at even more VC, complete training sessions and other repeat objectives to grind quicker. Wash, rinse, and repeat. MyTEAM’s login bonuses and objectives encouraged a similar ritual.
While these rituals were effective and indeed necessary in my efforts to go No Money Spent, too many of the activities had nothing to do with playing basketball. Likewise, so many of the daily rewards in the mobile darts game have nothing to do with actual gameplay, and some of the objectives that do can be quickly completed in the practice mode. Reflecting on the similarities to my old rituals in NBA 2K made me realise that they’d allowed me to develop both methods and a tolerance that I was now employing in a mobile game. It sounds backwards to say that Triple-A gaming prepared me to deal with the grind in a F2P mobile title, but that’s how blurred the lines have become!
Of course, while I wouldn’t consider those extracurricular activities in the darts game fun – certainly not the ones involving ads, anyway – I don’t find them to be quite as obnoxious. Granted, that’s due in large part to actually being F2P and realising that they’re an alternative to me spending a single cent on the game, whereas NBA 2K is a full-priced Triple-A release that I want to get my money’s worth out of. Naturally, the bar is lower for a F2P mobile game with some surprisingly enjoyable gameplay. It’s also not an annual release that wipes the slate clean on modes that require some heavy grinding for progress, currency, and rewards that’ll be gone within a couple of years.
On top of that, because the mobile darts game is far less action-oriented than NBA 2K, in a strange way, those extracurricular tasks to earn additional rewards do feel as though they’re a part of the game. I suppose it’s because I’m touching and swiping on the screen, just as I would with the actual throwing of the darts. Conversely, those methods of aiding the grind in NBA 2K are a stark departure from playing virtual basketball. I can also passively complete those tasks in the darts game, starting an ad and setting down my phone while I do something else. The repetitive methods of grinding in NBA 2K’s modes conversely involve more active participation on my part.
This isn’t to say that I necessarily enjoy that aspect of mobile gaming; rather, it’s less intrusive and obnoxious than it is in Triple-A titles. However, that the lines have been blurred, that Triple-A releases are looking to incorporate the methods and tricks that mobile gaming has used so successfully, is dismaying. I’d already come to realise just what a repetitive rut I was in, going through the motions of a daily ritual to grind the long way and not spend any money. Once I escaped that rut, it was painfully obvious how I’d been doing so much that had nothing to do with basketball, just to make the gameplay in a basketball video game more enjoyable. Again, it’s a sobering thought!
I was almost pulled back into that rut in NBA 2K23, when a couple of us from NLSC THRILLHO tried the game around launch and had a handful of fun online sessions. I was discussing methods of efficiently grinding, and mentioned that since I owned both the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game via a pre-order bonus, I could double dip on the daily prizes, potentially getting two payouts into the cross-generation VC wallet. With MyCOURT and its shootaround payouts still in the PS4 version, I could create a second player that I only use to help out with the grind on New Gen. There were definitely ways to game the system to avoid buying any VC.
Thankfully, no sooner had I mapped out that plan for efficient grinding, I quickly realised what a terrible chore it would be! Sure, it was doable. I’d found a way to patiently grind before, so I knew that I could stick to a plan and not give in to the pressure to pay for a shortcut. Ultimately, that was beside the point. That method of grinding might’ve been effective, but would it be fun? Was it necessary? Does it have anything to do with basketball? Should it be a part of the journey? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding “no”! It was a reminder that games are meant to be fun, not work, and that such calculated grinding shouldn’t be required or encouraged.
To be able to make such a direct comparison to a mobile game though, to see just how similar the modes and mechanics have become to a F2P title, was illuminating. After all, saying “NBA 2K is like a F2P mobile game” is somewhat of an alarmist take, and overall, NBA 2K25 is still far deeper than the darts game I’ve been using to unwind. Nevertheless, core aspects of NBA 2K’s two most popular modes – modes that make Take-Two a ton of that all-important recurrent revenue – can be directly compared to aspects of a free-to-play mobile darts game. As I said, it’s an extremely concerning example of the blurred lines between Triple-A releases and mobile gaming in 2025.
Yes, yes, it’s optional. You don’t have to log in every day and complete every extra objective, any more than you have to spend money on VC. Also, video games are a business, and companies need and want to make money. We all know that, so save the condescending shilling for a billion dollar company, and let’s consider a few pertinent questions. Do these F2P-like mechanics enhance the gameplay experience? In-game purchases are optional, but does that leave us with an undesirable choice between paying well beyond retail price and a bunch of busywork, just to enjoy the game and stand a chance of being competitive? Could these concepts be fairer, or more fun?
Look, it’s important to acknowledge the reality of game development, if only to understand why certain decisions are made. Once again though, we do get it, so spare us the “it’s just business, you’ll understand one day” and condescending head pat. A company’s need or desire to maximise their profits shouldn’t be an excuse when we’re evaluating the quality of their products. We know that Triple-A developers have been taking cues from mobile gaming, blurring the lines between them. We know why they’re doing it. The point is that the games are weaker, less fun, and more frustrating as they’ve leaned further into those concepts. It hasn’t benefitted us, the consumer.
So, I don’t want to hear the apologist rhetoric. I don’t care that you can do all kinds of non-basketball activities to grind for currency and XP to make a basketball game as enjoyable as it should be. I don’t want to hear that people are “whining” because “they just want to be 99 Overall in the first week”. No they don’t; they just want to have a fun and rewarding journey! They don’t want to engage in mechanics in a Triple-A title that are straight out of a mobile game, a concept that was once rightly dreaded but is now too readily accepted. If you defend it, you’re not some enlightened genius with a profound understanding of business and video game development. You’re just a shill.
Don’t like that label? How about bootlicker? It’s all the same to me. When you stand with corporations rather than your fellow consumers, when you defend the blurred lines between F2P mobile gaming and Triple-A titles, that’s what you are. As for me, seeing the undeniable similarities between a free mobile darts game and MyCAREER has reminded me why I have no desire to fall back into that rut of grinding to reach a point where the mode is enjoyable, only to repeat the process the next year, and the year after that. And no, outside of last year’s anomaly, I’m not eager to pay to skip the grind, either. Frankly, I’d much rather watch ads in between throwing virtual darts.
