How NBA 2K went from being a simple video game to become fashion, music and basketball culture

A few hours ago Kyle Kuzma appeared with an extremely oversized pink sweater that surprised half the world, but a long time since NBA 2K knows that basketball and NBA are not just mates, alley ops or triples from your home from your home.The mythical Chuck Taylor de Converse had dominating the slopes since the 20s of the last century, but perhaps the great jump occurred with Michael Jordan.His collaboration with Nike to create the iconic Air Jordan 1 36 years ago definitely carried the world of fashion to the courts and, above all, to street.Basketball players became a reflection of urban fashion and vice versa.

NBA 2K first launched in 1999 for the unforgettable Sega Dreamcast.From that moment on, it became the best basketball simulator in the market.It was five years with Allen Iiverson on the cover, precisely one of the NBA players who most and better combined fashion, hip-hop and basketball in a single figure.With the passing of the NBA 2K years it has been improving a lot at a purely playable level, but it has also become a cultural phenomenon.

NBA's real players die for appearing on the cover, authentic tantrums are caught when they put a score that does not seem appropriate and even send tweets to the person in charge of putting them to remind them that last season they improved their percentage of three shot of threeand that the game has not reflected it in the score.All this in what surrounds sport exclusively, but NBA 2K has also been giving more and more importance to the culture that surrounds basketball.

Thanks to 2K Spain, we have been able to interview Alfie Brody, vice president of the 2K Marketing Global Marketing Strategy and David Kelley, Senior Manager of Colboros and Musical Licenses in 2K to talk precisely about this evolution, how fashion, music and other aspectscultural flood every new installment.

Alfie Brody: With our way my career, players can experience the life of an NBA player and a very important part of that is to be able to express yourself through the clothes you wear.The culture of the shoes is closely linked to the basketball culture so we decided to create an experience that allows players to demonstrate their personal style.

Alfie Brody: With the neighborhood we were looking to build an experience that imitated the real world and ensure that clothing, shoes and accessories reflected the style of the current NBA players, something that is an important aspect to represent basketball and theculture that surrounds it.

David Kelley: Basketball and musical culture are so united that the soundtrack has become an integral part not only of the playable experience but also of the culture that surrounds it.Our goal is to create a global platform to discover new music and that is why we are working with very recognized artists and new promises, creating a dynamic and attractive musical experience for our community.

In NBA 2K22 we have evolved the experience to update the soundtrack dynamically.We want music to always feel fresh and simply lighting the game discover your new favorite songs every week.In addition, we continue with our annual 2K Beats initiative: the search, which this year we have done in collaboration with Soundcloud.It is a call to our players community to propose new artists who can become part of the NBA 2K soundtrack.

Alfie Brody: Since the way designers have incorporated the style of NBA t -shirts into their garments to how players show their passion for clothing, fashion and style trends have always gone hand in hand with basketball and basketball and basketball andThe culture that surrounds it.That is why it is important that our users can replicate it, not only giving them the opportunity to dress fashionable but also being creative when choosing how they show it.

Alfie Brody: It all started watching the style and clothes of NBA players.Our idea is that our community can access it.We also seek to reach agreements with collaborators and brands that reflect the culture of current basketball and street fashion to create an authentic experience to our players.

Alfie Brody: We work with the players and brands between each version of the game and we love to hear their stories about how NBA 2K culture has impacted the sport.

Alfie Brody: Taking into account that we are connected very closely with real basketball and the influence we have on the world and vice versa was important for us to support important causes that are central to the ethics of our company.

Alfie Brody: The possibility of undertaking projects like these within the game gets players to experience a more personal trip and enjoy a unique experience in my career mode.We have been offering this type of experience for many years and we are always thinking about how to evolve to surprise the players.

David Kelley: 2k Beats is the global initiative around music for NBA 2K.This year, under the 2K Beat stamp we are especially proud of our collaborations with artists and record stamps that have helped us create the dynamic soundtrack that is changing with the different seasons and updates within the game as well as the playlists and reproduction listsof the search, where we focus our efforts to discover new talents to share with our community.

Alfie Brody: It is impressive to see the number of great NBA stars that are very fans of the game, such as Kevin Durant, which we have placed on the cover of this year.There are also NBA players who do not play video games, but that are of course aware of how they are represented in the game, especially when we publish the annual updates with the new scores of each player.We also work very closely with the players to scan them inside the games and make sure that it is appearance is updated and as realistic as possible.

David Kelley: It is a constant trip to give new experiences to players every year and is possibly one of the great challenges we face as an annual sports video game.A large part of determining what will be the next thing is to observe what is happening in the world of basketball and beyond, as in the world of sports in general, fashion and culture.We also work very closely with our community to listen to their requests and discover how we can incorporate them into the game.

The next step for NBA 2K is to continue with the challenge of creating new and attractive ways that players enjoy the game.Just this year we have introduced a new way of executing our game plans as a service with the arrival of new content, clothing and music in each season.

Alfie Brody: It has been a milestone to have Candace Parker on the cover of our game.As one of the most prominent WNBA champions, in addition to being MVP twice and having participated six times in the All-Star, it is a testimony of the tremendous impact she has had on the world of basketball, so we are proud to have it on the front page.Of course, we are not going to stop there since we are thinking of improving the W Mode that we introduced last year to raise and honor women who are making these progress in the WNBA.

Alfie Brody: A wonderful part of working in a sports video game like NBA 2K is that we can place the players in the center of the track and let them experience the sport and culture of basketball in many ways.It is a fundamental part of our international approach since we try to attract players from different parts of the world and make their love for basketball grow.

Naturally, we also reflect and celebrate the talent of the NBA players who have come from Europe and beyond.This year we have placed Luka Dončić and Dirk Nowitzki on our cover.Both are legends in the NBA and Europe and have a great impact on the game culture.

Alfie Brody: From the beginning we have always focused on offering the best possible basketball simulation.This means that our top priority is playable innovations that build a fun and competitive experience for players.But we also believe that NBA 2K is a platform for players to experience the relationship between sport and culture and we always work to offer both sides of the currency to our users.