The official NBA 2K Twitter recently posted a reminder about the NBA 2K21 server shutdown, which is scheduled for December 31st, 2022. This is in line with the promised duration for online support, which was extended to 27 months back in 2014 after the NBA 2K14 server shutdown led to much controversy.
To state the obvious, all online play and functionality will be unavailable following the NBA 2K21 server shutdown. This includes MyTEAM and MyCAREER, as an offline version of the latter mode hasn’t been available since NBA 2K19. Roster sharing will not be possible (at least on console), and official roster updates will not be redownloaded if the game is reinstalled. All unused Virtual Currency and MT will be lost, with no option to transfer the remaining balance to NBA 2K22 or NBA 2K23.
Additionally, 2K have confirmed that NBA 2K21 will be pulled from digital storefronts following the server shutdown. In the past, older titles have sometimes remained available to buy for up to a few years later. Infamously, the special editions of NBA 2K18 were still being sold as of December 2020, despite their bonuses requiring online support that had long since concluded. Since then, 2K has been quicker to pull games that are no longer supported. To that end, if you’re a collector/completionist and don’t own NBA 2K21 yet, you’ll have until January 1st 2023 to add it to your library of basketball video games.
As always, anyone who already owns NBA 2K21 on PC or console will still be able to download it again and continue to play offline modes beyond the server shutdown. Nevertheless, I’d recommend wrapping up any unfinished business ASAP, as well as downloading any custom rosters before the servers go offline. Feel free to suggest any rosters for your fellow gamers to check out while there’s still time, either in the comments below or here in our NBA 2K21 Forum.