NBA 2K22 Gameplay Director Mike Wang goes over improvements to NBA 2K22 gameplay, MyPLAYER Builder, and more in the latest episode of 2KTV (Starts at the 04:56 mark).
Here are the major takeaways:
GAMEPLAY
- Defense is more rewarding
- New combos and signature moves added for dribbling. ‘Dribble gawds’ are going to have a lot to work with this year.
- High iq plays get rewarded more
- Animations, signature moves, shots will be among things unlocked throughout the year
MyPLAYER BUILDER
- Power Forward builds were toned down
- One thing 2K really focused on was trying to make all the different heights and positions have unique strengths and abilities.
- We might have a lot of smaller players this year if you are six foot or under, you get a massive speed boost, you have access to higher ball handling, three point ratings.
CURRENT/LAST GEN VS NEXT GEN
- 2K wanted to do their best to try to keep parity between gen 5 and gen 4 as much as possible.
- All the stuff mentioned before, like the dribble moves and combos, all of that is happening for both gens.
- Next-gen has some exclusive features – foot planting improvements, a lot of tech with movements.
Full Transcript:
What do you think the community is going to be most excited about?
With gameplay changes it’s going to be a hard one to pinpoint, I’m going to say two things:
Number one, because this is one of our biggest pillars for game play this year, it’s going to be defense. I think that’s going to be just perimeter defense body ups on the floor, movement, and how the players feel just in on ball defensive stances and on both defensive situations.
But at the rim, especially and contesting shots, all that stuff is reworked we have an all new block system, it just feels much more rewarding on the defensive end of the floor just making plays and getting stops. So I think that’s gonna be the most exciting thing for our community because it’s just a much more balanced game and a much more fun game to play.
The second thing I’m going to say is, because this is one of my personal favorites, is going to be dribbling. I think that just all the stuff we’ve added there with the new combos and the new signature moves, it’s going to be a lot of fun. So if you’re a dribble guy, a dribble head, you’re going to have a lot to work with this year.
What are you most excited about with 2K22 gameplay?
I think just what I alluded to is just the game feels way more balanced and it makes more sense, just in terms of how we’re rewarding players if they are doing the right thing on the court. I know it sounds really general and really basic, but a lot of times in the past, you know sometimes you’d make the right play or do the right thing, but you weren’t always rewarded for it. In 2K22, I feel like it’s much more – just a one-to-one – if you make the right plays, you get rewarded, you get the right stops, or you score. So just shooting open shots, taking high iq shots are much more awarded, it just feels way better to make the right play, get open, knock down those open jumpers – they’re so much fun to play with. And Luke (Doncic) too right, we brought in Luka for mo-cap and he gave us his patented step back jumper and his moves. The nicest guy and super funny, just a pleasure to work with, so we’re so excited that he’s our cover guy this year.
Can you tell us a little bit more about seasons?
Yeah so seasons is going to be — you know we’ve had in the past with MyTEAM, and the goal that Erick Boenisch wanted this year was to really extend the seasons across the entire game. So I’ll speak to gameplay – that’s my area. What we’re doing with seasons is we’re going to try and release content throughout the entire year. So you know on day one, we’ve usually just thrown all the animations at you, all the signature moves and shots and everything. But we’re going to try and roll that out across the year just to kind of change the meta up a little bit, give people something to look forward to, and it’s really going to just prolong the life of the game and make people just excited to try new things as the year goes on.
A lot of players love making the dominant archetypes of NBA 2K and in NBA 2K21, it seemed like it was the power forward. So Mike, what do you think the dominant archetype will be for NBA 2K22?
That’s a good question because that’s something that we’re always trying to balance and tune, because we don’t really want there to be one dominant archetype right. So the power forward thing is fixed and this – it’s much more spread out in terms of the badge you get per position and heights and archetypes.
But one thing we’ve really focused on was trying to make all the different heights and positions have unique strengths and abilities. So one thing that I think might actually be interesting we might have a lot of smaller players this year if you are you know six foot or under, you get a massive speed boost, you have access to higher ball handling, ratings as well as like three point ratings. So a lot of people might gravitate toward that that direction this year.
Having said that, in our online tests here internally, we’ve got a guy who plays as like a seven foot center every single time, and he is so dominant in our games. So you know, I think it’s a good mix, because I think you’re going to have people who want to be kind of in the middle road – small forward, power forward – and still kind of do it all. But you might see some players gravitate toward like point guards, small point guards, and then like big centers. Hopefully we have the whole gamut covered and it’s much more balanced experience overall.
What are the game play differences between gen 4 and gen 5.
That’s an interesting question because we wanted to do our best to try to keep parity between gen 5 and g4 as much as possible. So all the stuff that I mentioned before, like the dribble moves and combos, all that’s going for both gens. But gen 5 has some some great features that are exclusive to that generation because all the stuff we did with foot planting, a lot of tech with movement, that’s all going to be exclusive to gen 5. We also have some pretty interesting features, which we’re going to probably go into in a little bit later, with alley-oops and with dunks that provides a bit of a skill mechanic to those specific moves. So stay tuned for more on that, but they’re a lot of fun to use and I think our gamer’s are gonna love just trying out these new features that are specific to gen five
Well thank you so much for giving us a preview of nba 2k22 we are so excited for the game to release and I know you are so excited as well. Thanks again for joining us.
Thank you, it was great being here and we’re so excited for our fans this year, it’s going to be a great year for NBA 2K.
NBA 2K22 launches for current and next-gen platforms on September 10 of this year. Check out the NBA 2K22 News Tracker for all the latest news and info leading up to the release date.
