2K Games has officially announced that the servers for NBA 2K24 will be permanently decommissioned on December 31, 2025—a disclosure made less than 48 hours ago.
Despite having launched as recently as 2023, the basketball simulator will lose its online functionality just two years after its initial release. Once the shutdown is finalized, all network-dependent features will become completely inaccessible. This decision reflects the typical lifecycle of annual sports franchises, where expiring licenses and the push for newer iterations often lead to the premature sunsetting of older titles.
The writing was already on the wall this past October when NBA 2K24 was delisted from digital storefronts, serving as a clear indicator that support was winding down. Publishers like 2K rarely justify maintaining server infrastructure for legacy entries once more profitable sequels have established themselves. While owners of physical copies will still be able to launch the game, the experience will be effectively restricted to local offline modes, significantly devaluing the product. This situation further underscores the growing concern regarding the longevity of modern sports titles, which often see their core features stripped away only a few years after purchase.
NBA 2K24’s tenure was far from smooth. The game faced a barrage of criticism for its aggressive monetization, with many players and reviewers condemning its microtransaction system as one of the most predatory in the history of the franchise on current-generation consoles.
Source: iXBT.games