Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five major problems with open worlds in sports video games.

Since the introduction of The Neighborhood in NBA 2K18, open worlds have been a core part of the MyCAREER experience. Whether an urban complex, a cruise ship, or a beachfront town, they’ve taken MyCAREER and its connected modes from menus to an environment that can be explored. The Neighborhood has since given way to the much larger open world of The City in the flagship version of NBA 2K, although it was condensed slightly in NBA 2K25. Elsewhere, WWE 2K25 now features The Island, and EA Sports are reportedly also looking to bring open worlds to their games.

Now, I have nothing against open worlds in video games. I’m a fan of both the Grand Theft Auto and Fallout series, so I know how much fun the concept can be. However, I don’t believe open worlds belong in sports video games like NBA 2K or WWE 2K. Sure, they can be made to work, facilitating the MMORPG aspects of career modes nowadays. To that point though, I don’t think that it results in a better experience for gamers, particularly anyone who prefers traditional career mode gameplay. With that in mind, here are five big problems that are created when open worlds are forced into sports games, and therefore five reasons why they shouldn’t be a part of those titles!

1. Minimal & Vastly Different Gameplay

The appeal of open worlds in video games is not just in the ability to freely roam and admire the scenery, but the continuous gameplay. Whenever you’re travelling through the game world, you’re playing the game. You encounter enemies, obstacles, NPCs, and so forth. Whether you’re actively completing a mission or quest, or just messing around, it all takes place in the same environment, with the same controls and game mechanics. Outside of cutscenes, you’re never separated from the core gameplay as is the case when there’s an isolated player hub, or a level/mission selection screen. In short, as long as you’re controlling your character, you’re always playing the game.

Conversely, running around the open worlds of The Neighborhood and The City is not part of the core gameplay of NBA 2K. Yes, basketball gameplay can be found in locations within those game worlds, but all of the travel in between is a completely different game. In fact, calling it gameplay is rather generous; it’s more of a glorified loading screen, if we’re being honest! Yes, there are NPCs and quests, but they’re still a departure from the on-court action that NBA 2K is ultimately about. It’s not like playing a GTA or Fallout game, or a proper MMORPG, where the game world and gameplay are intertwined, and exploration is actually interesting and rewarding.

2. An Excuse to Ramp Up Recurrent Revenue Mechanics

Let’s not kid ourselves: open worlds mean more opportunities to add items that cost in-game currency, which in turn facilitates recurrent revenue mechanics. After all, if your character is going to be part of an online game world, you probably don’t want to sport the boring default outfit that’ll have other gamers avoiding you. That means you need to either grind hard or buy extra VC so that you can have the right fit while also upgrading quicker. You’ll probably also want to get around the map faster, so there’s an incentive to purchase a vehicle that’s speedier than the complementary mode of transport (if furnished with one). There’s no doubt that we’ll be pressured to spend.

That pressure will keep ramping up, too. In NBA 2K18, bikes were unlocked as a reward on the Road to 99. In NBA 2K19, you had to level up to unlock the ability to purchase one for a cool 100,000 VC; something you’d definitely do if you happen to be a completionist, since there was a Trophy/Achievement for it. One may argue that “it’s optional”, and while that’s technically true, let’s not capitulate to that apologist rhetoric! With clothes being a status symbol and rudimentary form of matchmaking, vehicles making travel far easier, and Trophies/Achievements being fun to shoot for, tying them into pushy recurrent revenue mechanics is a lousy use of an open world.

3. Resources Could Be Better Used Elsewhere

Needless to say, there are large teams working on games like NBA 2K. To that point, it’s not as though there are only a few people splitting their time between creating the open worlds and working on player and team assets. Different artists and producers are working on different parts of the game, while obviously collaborating as needed. With that being said, developing an open world for NBA 2K, WWE 2K, or another sports game, is dedicating time and resources to a feature that those titles really don’t need. It’s quite obvious that some extremely talented artists have been working on The Neighborhood and The City, but I think their talents would be better used elsewhere.

If nothing else, there has to be a better use for the 150 GB of disk space that recent NBA 2K games have demanded. Personally, I believe that a more complete array of historical logos, courts, jerseys, and other assets for MyNBA Eras, would be much less of a waste than an open world that has minimal gameplay and areas that we can actually interact with. Or perhaps, the game could be smaller in size without a concept that’s problematic and doesn’t improve or truly belong in the genre! It’s not that I don’t appreciate the work that goes into designing all of NBA 2K’s open worlds and their seasonal updates. I’d just rather that it went towards enhancing the core experience.

4. So Much Time Is Wasted

As someone who spent a considerable amount of time in MyCAREER in NBA 2K18, NBA 2K19, and NBA 2K20, I speak from experience when I say that open worlds in a basketball game end up being tremendously tedious. As I already explained, they’re essentially interactive loading screens rather than actual gameplay, but I really have to emphasise just how much of a waste of time they are! Want to buy and equip some new clothing items? Load in at the spawn point, travel to the shops, finally browse a menu. Want to play online? Spawn, potentially travel halfway around the map, enter the mode or stand at the “Got Next” spot, and then sit around waiting for your turn.

Yes, there have been fast travel options and quests to unlock different spawn points. It really shouldn’t come down to having to do that, though! There’s so much time wasted not playing the actual game, from travelling to where you need to go to waiting for a match once you get there. It’s not that any of this is difficult to understand or perform; it’s just highly unnecessary! It’s not an immersive or enjoyable experience like actual open world games, where once again, the gameplay is continuous. Don’t quote me the number of hours gamers spend in The City or The Neighborhood, either. It’s not like we have a choice here. By that logic, the main menu is NBA 2K’s most popular mode!

5. Always Online Means the End of Offline Modes

Here’s the thing. I can kind of get on board with the concept of an open world in NBA 2K and other sports games. It does waste time, but there can be fun moments. It adds ways of pressuring gamers to engage in recurrent revenue mechanics, but it’s possible to go No Money Spent. The environments can be creative, and while there are some glaring problems, the MMORPG model clearly can be applied to MyCAREER. Even if I can make peace with all of that, there’s no getting around the fact that the addition of a game world with online content that requires a connection – and disappears once the servers are shut down – has put an end to offline MyCAREER since NBA 2K20.

From NBA 2K14 through NBA 2K17, offline MyCAREER remained fairly intact. We lost access to some customisation features, but the mode was still playable. Come NBA 2K18 and NBA 2K19 – the first two games featuring The Neighborhood – the offline version of MyCAREER was basically player-locked MyLEAGUE, as not even the story was available anymore. And now, because it’s all about the open world with its revenue-generating features, online modes, off-court quests, seasonal content, and firmly herding us towards the new game every year, there’s no offline MyCAREER to enjoy as soon as online support ends. Unfortunately, many of us saw that one coming.

What’s your take on sports games featuring open worlds in their career modes? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.