NBA 2K25 ERAS (PC)

[Patr1ck]

They should have just started the LeBron era a few years earlier, like 08-09. Even though he lost in the conference finals, it was his first MVP season. Then they could have started the Steph era at 2014.

[Dee4Three]

They should have just started the LeBron era a few years earlier, like 08-09. Even though he lost in the conference finals, it was his first MVP season. Then they could have started the Steph era at 2014.

By not starting "The Steph Era" in 14-15, they are leaving out

- His first championship
- His only two MVP seasons (14-15 and 15-16)
- His unanimous MVP (The only one in NBA History)
- The best regular season record in NBA History
- His first and second meeting with LeBron in the finals
- A season where he led the league in scoring and steals per game (15-16)

Starting in 16-17 makes no sense. How do you have a "Steph Era" and leave all of that out?

Andrew and I talked about this on this weeks NLSC podcast which releases Tuesday.

[Nbasupes]

I am like you guys. I felt the Kobe Era and Bron era should start sooner but the Bron era likely has to start with the Heatles as that era changed the NBA into the next generation.

I would prefer the Steph era to start when they won their 1st title and Bron 1st year back in Cleveland but I know they wanted fans to get KD with the Warriors which is critical as well.

[senhorxxx]

2K's effort to bring old eras to the game is really cool, but if there isn't some change in the gameplay and rules it becomes very artificial and meaningless, because basketball played in the 90s is very different from today, for example.

[debiler]

One question, guys: Are the draft classes and rosters complete? What I mean is, besides the non-licensed players like Chuck, Regggie and so on, are there lots of placeholder generics like we had in those horrible 2K24 draft classes on PC? Or is it actually immersive this year?

[Andrew]

Yes, there are still several players who haven't been licensed and thus are absent.

[debiler]

Yes, there are still several players who haven't been licensed and thus are absent.

Aw man, I hate that. At 2K, they have all the tools to easily give us full rosters and complete draft classes. I'm not even talking about full on cyberfaces, just stats and accurate player data. But we have to bend over backwards to use external tools - which won't be available for quite some time - to painstakingly create authentic rosters year in, year out. Makes me mad.

[Lagoa]

I'm just waiting a list with TEAMS ID (NBA ERAS) to start patching all courts for 90's and 00's

[Andrew]

Yes, there are still several players who haven't been licensed and thus are absent.

Aw man, I hate that. At 2K, they have all the tools to easily give us full rosters and complete draft classes. I'm not even talking about full on cyberfaces, just stats and accurate player data. But we have to bend over backwards to use external tools - which won't be available for quite some time - to painstakingly create authentic rosters year in, year out. Makes me mad.

When it comes to licensing all the former players, some of it's on 2K, some of it's on difficult circumstances. Obviously, it seems like they could indeed get Charles Barkley if they just met his request to make a donation to the NBRPA. It's the least they could do, considering how much money they make off of historical content. Similar deal with Reggie Miller and Rasheed Wallace. Sheed has been pretty blunt about it actually, stating they need to CTC; cut the cheque!

On the other hand, with thousands of players throughout the decades, there are challenges in licensing them all if they haven't joined any group agreement. Some of them are difficult to track down, or not interested, or they've passed away and their families aren't interested, or they're asking for too much money for someone who was the 11th man on a roster in 1984. Of course, if they're lowballing big names, chances are there have been some insulting offers to role players and journeymen, too.

I'm also guessing there are difficulties with players who have recently left the league but are either eying a return, or remain active overseas. So yeah, it's a shame and some of it comes down to Take-Two, but they're also in a tough spot if players can't be reached or refuse to sign on. Making the placeholders basically the missing players in all but name would be helpful, but given the lawsuits that have come about due to obvious stand-ins in previous games, it'd be risky, so I understand why they're careful there.

[debiler]

Yes, there are still several players who haven't been licensed and thus are absent.

Aw man, I hate that. At 2K, they have all the tools to easily give us full rosters and complete draft classes. I'm not even talking about full on cyberfaces, just stats and accurate player data. But we have to bend over backwards to use external tools - which won't be available for quite some time - to painstakingly create authentic rosters year in, year out. Makes me mad.

When it comes to licensing all the former players, some of it's on 2K, some of it's on difficult circumstances. Obviously, it seems like they could indeed get Charles Barkley if they just met his request to make a donation to the NBRPA. It's the least they could do, considering how much money they make off of historical content. Similar deal with Reggie Miller and Rasheed Wallace. Sheed has been pretty blunt about it actually, stating they need to CTC; cut the cheque!

On the other hand, with thousands of players throughout the decades, there are challenges in licensing them all if they haven't joined any group agreement. Some of them are difficult to track down, or not interested, or they've passed away and their families aren't interested, or they're asking for too much money for someone who was the 11th man on a roster in 1984. Of course, if they're lowballing big names, chances are there have been some insulting offers to role players and journeymen, too.

I'm also guessing there are difficulties with players who have recently left the league but are either eying a return, or remain active overseas. So yeah, it's a shame and some of it comes down to Take-Two, but they're also in a tough spot if players can't be reached or refuse to sign on. Making the placeholders basically the missing players in all but name would be helpful, but given the lawsuits that have come about due to obvious stand-ins in previous games, it'd be risky, so I understand why they're careful there.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I absolutely acknowledge the difficulties in licensing player likenesses, especially former players. I was more talking about the last-gen games where a draft class of the past would only have like the top ten guys and the rest were not only completely generic guys, but also very unfitting for the era. A tattooed black guy named D'Shawn and an 80 3pt rating has no business being in a 1950s draft class, if you know what I mean. The generics in draft classes have always been very lackluster, breaks immersion for me. All of this wouldn't be that big of a deal if only we had a simple .csv or Excel import / export interface for bulk operations. I've been a software developer for almost as long as I'm a registered user here, I could easily whip up a program in a couple of days that grabs player data from an online source and converts them to decent importable ratings. It's been bugging me for years.

[Andrew]

Ah, gotcha! Yeah, I've noticed that as well; hairstyles, accessories, and features like being heavily tattooed that aren't era-appropriate. And the ratings on top of that, of course.

[sticky-fingers]

I started a MyNBA era in Jordan Era with the Rockets. Its pretty fun, despite missing players.
Small details that kill a little bit the immersion : current ads (kia etc...) and current mascots

[KyotoCarl]

Been simming a few years with the Bulls in the Jordan era and noticed some errors:

-Bulls move to the United Center before the 92-93 season, which is wrong. They moved there in '94.

-Commentary says they've won two championships in a row. At this point they had only won one.

[DEERxBanshee]

Been simming a few years with the Bulls in the Jordan era and noticed some errors:

-Bulls move to the United Center before the 92-93 season, which is wrong. They moved there in '94.

-Commentary says they've won two championships in a row. At this point they had only won one.

Yeah, sadly it's been that way since 2k23. There's a lot of errors like that that I hope we can get corrected through mods.

[Andrew]

FYI, I posted a few thoughts on the duality of MyNBA Eras in this week's Monday Tip-Off: https://www.nba-live.com/mto-the-duality-of-mynba-eras/

[Patr1ck]

Why they can't use a portion of VC revenue to help get and keep those authentic players in the game? They went to so much effort for that game mode, and I'm sure the roster's not being complete is the main drawback.