2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

June 23, 2009

Basketball is wildly popular in China and so are online games.

Seeing big revenue in that combination, 2K Sports announced today that it will create an online version of pro hoops game NBA 2K for the Chinese market. Chinese Internet portal Tencent Holdings will partner with 2K Sports on the deal.

Licensing for the game includes all NBA team along with current and retired players. 2K Sports president Christoph Hartmann is quoted in a press release issued this morning:

The incredible popularity of basketball in Asia combined with the love of online games in that region makes this a very exciting project for 2K. For the first time, 2K is developing an online game combining our expertise in making the best-selling and top-rated NBA 2K video game franchise with the proven ability of Tencent for developing and operating highly successful online game communities in China.

Online gaming was a $2.75 billion business in China in 2008 and more than a billion Chinese viewed NBA programming during the just-completed season.

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Comments

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by DarkSaber on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 08:39.

Wonder how long it will be until China bans it for not being CHinese enough.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by Ashton on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 12:19.

I was wondering how long it'd take before someone would make a dumbass remark like this.

Not long, apparently.

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by DarkSaber on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:25.

Well that sure told me didn't it.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by mdo7 on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 08:37.

I'm not that suprised that this game is coming out in China, Basketball is becoming popular in Asia. I remember they released the 2K baseball in Japan and probably Korea. I wonder if Sony can try to release MLB 09: the Show in Japan and Korea, it would boost sales and and boost the PS3 sales in Asia.

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by JustChris on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 10:58.

I hear that China has more people shooting hoops as recreation than the entire population of the US. The NBA has already tapped into that market a decade ago with its sales of NBA merchandise, and there were also many Nike ad campaigns in the 90's. I won't be all surprised if basketball video games weren't already popular there, games imported from the US.

GameSnooper

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by Ashton on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 12:21.

Basketball was popularized in Asia a huge amount in the 90s thanks to anime like Slam Dunk. The sheer number of teenagers in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and China who started playing basketball because of that anime is staggering, to say the least.

Re: 2K Sports Takes NBA Game to Chinese Market

Submitted by JDKJ on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 08:22.

Yo. Yao.

Poll

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

All shouts

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