NBA 2K22 Executive Producer: Gameplay Will Focus More on Player Skill, Less Random Animations

For several years with the NBA 2K series, fans have complained about ‘canimations’, triggering the wrong animation, and cheesy / glitchy moves (i.e. 2K21’s ‘Curry slide’) mattering more than skill. NBA 2K22 aims to change that with more emphasis on making offense and defense more skill based and less random animation based.

NBA 2K22 executive producer, Erick Boenisch, recently sat down for an interview to explain the new gameplay and MyCAREER developments in the upcoming game.

  • NBA 2K22 takes huge steps to making the gameplay experience better than ever with a very sharp focus on offense and defense and making those components more skill based and less random animation based.
  • Made NBA 2K22 both the most accessible and the most enjoyable NBA 2K experience to date.
  • Users are going to have complete control over layups and dunks. In those mechanics in previous years you would kind of run towards the basket you’d press the shoot button and something would happen. This year you have control over the outcome the animation, and that’s something that while it may sound like there is complexity added to it, it’s really not – it puts the control in your hands, you feel good when you make it, you understand when you miss.
  • MyCAREER in NBA 2K22 is the most played mode and it’s back and it is bigger than ever in many different ways. On the next gen consoles, MyCAREER is completely integrated with The City.  In previous years , MyCAREER was kind of akin to a movie — you would start it, you would get a five minute sequence, and you would just go play games and you’d eventually get more sequences. This year, it’s completely integrated. You’re going to have an intro and then right away your player is running around The City, talking to agents, talking to his best friend, coaches, etc.  It’s very RPG-like – you are experiencing this rise to fame in The City that you live in, it’s a really cool feeling and it’s a really big evolution for sports video games.
  • On current-gen consoles – because 2K is really making two games this year – 2K is making a brand new next-gen experience for our next gen consoles and
    those users and doing the same thing for current gen.
  • Current-gen also has a fully rich narrative that people will enjoy in a more traditional theme — you’re on the cruise ship, and you’re getting the full MyCAREER experience in a way that you’ve been experiencing for many years.
  • So no matter which version of the game you purchase, you’re getting a brand new
    experience.

NBA 2K22 launches for current and next-gen on September 10 of this year. Check out the NBA 2K22 News Tracker for all the latest info leading up to the release.

Thanks for your feedback!