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2K Games pressured The Sixth Axis to remove 3/10 score from NBA 2K18 review

mas8705

Member
Seems to me that 2k done up goofed here. Mind you that I can get if there is certain things like the review mentioning "protest" as if to say that a poor score game is a way to attack a company. That said though, if the VC does play as much of a role here and if you can't get it to accomulate as fast as opening your wallet, then it does seem like it turns into a "pay to play" on top of charging at full price.

The problem though is that with how this was handled, it almost looked like 2K tried to go out of their way to "silence" a critic and with how it was done, it raised some red flags.
 

Petrae

Member
that's what people brought to themselves because they couldn't stop buying their precious games even if they had microtransactions in them...good job guys,you played yourselves and fucked me and other people in the process too..enjoy the industry you voted with your wallet for.

There's no question in my mind that consumers played as much of a role in poisoning the modern video game industry as the industry itself did. They happily accepted and eagerly threw their cash at microtransactions and gave the industry carte blanche to insert MTs everywhere.

It's hard to lay so much blame on the industry when it's the consumers who allowed this bullshit to happen and never fought back against it. This is the industry they deserve, and when they're inevitably pushed too far and get all upset about it, I'll just snicker quietly and mutter "I told you so" under my breath.
 

Sami+

Member
I don't want to republish redactions, but their last paragraph in the original review (which we have in our archive) definitely read to me like "this is a fun game that you'll enjoy but I'm giving it a bad score anyway."

The update clarifies and justifies the score: "the core game is fun, but the business model intrudes significantly on that fun."

I think there's a nuanced but important difference between those two lines, and I think the Sixth Axis response recognizes that.

Edit:



It's updated. Our scripts don't check that often for score updates.

If the reviewer thought that the microtransactions were so detrimental to the playing experience that it brought the entire package down, that is still a completely fair score.
 
Weird. It's almost as if they feel threatened by reviews like this and on its Steam page of everyone shitting on their garbage micro transactions. Some shady moves by the outlets editor, but I hope they stick to their guns on it.
 

Justified

Member
Im sure it has been mention (I for sure have in other threads, and some other memebers too),

But the true story that hasnt been picked up yet, that should: Is the game is corrupting users data, that causes your MyPlayer to be deleted and also erases your VC, even if you paid real money for it. They put out a patch for it and that still didnt correct the issue.

If TSA added that in their article a 2/10 would have been justified
 

Zafir

Member
Im sure it has been mention (I for sure have in other threads, and some other memebers too),

But the true story that hasnt been picked up yet, that should: Is the game is corrupting users data, that causees your MyPlayer to be deleted and also erases your VC, even if you paid real money for it. They put out a patch for it and that still didnt correct the issue.

If TSA added that in their article a 2/10 would have been justified

But they sure did patch the exploit that you could farm VC easily via!

Of course they did!
 

Orca

Member
I dunno.. I am really liking 2K18 and don't feel the greed to get more VC. Just going at it at my own pace.

I kind of agree - but I'm looking at it from the perspective of someone who's playing a career and doesn't expect to be Lebron James by the end of the first season.

I'm also kind of used to it from the NHL series, where you need to earn experience not VC to boost stats and it doesn't come all that quickly - especially when you're at low stats and not as effective. Keep playing and eventually you get there, but the slog - however realistic it might be - isn't the 'hero play' experience people might expect.
 
Full priced games with shitty microtransactions like this, deserve to be marked down / called out.

It's bad enough that microtransactions in full priced games exist at all but when they are placed in a game to slow down progression and can almost feel like they are putting pressure on people to buy, just so they can progress, then they deserve all the shit they get.
 

Schlorgan

Member
Im sure it has been mention (I for sure have in other threads, and some other memebers too),

But the true story that hasnt been picked up yet, that should: Is the game is corrupting users data, that causes your MyPlayer to be deleted and also erases your VC, even if you paid real money for it. They put out a patch for it and that still didnt correct the issue.

If TSA added that in their article a 2/10 would have been justified
That seems like something that could justify its own thread.
 
Full priced games with shitty microtransactions like this, deserve to be marked down / called out.

It's bad enough that microtransactions in full priced games exist at all but when they are placed in a game to slow down progression and can almost feel like they are putting pressure on people to buy, just so they can progress, then they deserve all the shit they get.
I’m skipping it in favor of Live. I am not going to support micro transactions when they are this bad. I know that It’s not going anywhere, but to have it to this degree is nuts.
 

joecanada

Member
I’m skipping it in favor of Live. I am not going to support micro transactions when they are this bad. I know that It’s not going anywhere, but to have it to this degree is nuts.

yeah I only played 2.5 seasons of NBA 2K16 before I got bored, imagine playing this in complete mediocrity in 2K18? (without being able to rank up significantly). no thank you. game deserves 5/10 or whatever scores to me this is not a game I would play at all.
 

legend166

Member
3/10 sounds generous from what I'm hearing about the game.

You can't separate the exploitative business model from the game it so clearly impacts on.

If Breath of the Wild gave you an electric shock every time you completed a shrine it wouldn't be worth a 10/10.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
better get used to it people this is gaming in 2025.
it's a service.

don't mind me buying old games
 
What did Boogie do? I swear every time I hear about that guy it's him being a spineless shit on social media.

There seems to be a weird cabal of YouTube guys that are all unified in defending each other, regardless of how god damn atrocious the shit happening is. Like, if they ever take a side that isn't "for the youtube celebrity" that their entire world will crumble around them.
 
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