It's Amazing How Much Faster NBA 2K23 Loads Since They Killed MyCareer, MyTeam, and the Servers; Also - California, Pass AB 1921, the Protect Our Games Act

[CA, tell your State representatives to enact AB 1921, the Protect Our Games Act 👇]

So back in 2022 or so I got into basketball, mostly for the drama, and around the 2023 finals I bought the PC version of NBA 2K23. It's pretty good, I have to say (as someone who doesn't play games online) - even MyTeam didn't feel pay-to-win (again, only playing by myself) because they took out the energy meters and you could get good stuff from the auction house fairly affordably in in-game money. But like they usually do, 2K shut down the servers after two years [I think it's two years, maybe two and a half, from launch], and in today times that included taking down even the single player story...

On the bright side, I reinstalled it yesterday, what with the Finals and being unable to pick a bandwagon, and it's so much snappier now that it's been gutted...I want to say a big part of that is not having to play the videos on loading screens, but they just go so much faster...

What a shame and a waste. Well, the State of California is currently considering a law called the Protect Our Games Act (Assembly Bill 1921) that would require video game publishers to keep future digital games playable offline after support ends, or otherwise offer a refund - I actually don't know that it would cover a game like NBA 2K where it's communicated, in text somewhere between fine and prominent print, that parts aren't going to work in a couple years and you can still play like half of it offline, but this is definitely a great reform in any case. If you live in California, you can find your State representatives here or send them an email/fax/letter with resist.bot.

So anyway, I haven't bought another NBA 2K - 24 definitely didn't seem worth an upgrade, especially since PC still got the last-gen version...I did want to get 25 but it never went on sale to the degree the previous one did (i.e. in a bundle), and all things considered I'm fine just staying with 23 at this point...but if we do get a proper offline MyCareer that'll probably change...