NBA 2K17's "Park After Dark" Was An Avoidable Disaster

Over the past weekend NBA 2K17 held its first ever multiplayer event "Park After Dark".  On paper it seemed like a wonderful idea: Host an event where people bring their My Players to a party with live music, 3 on 3 games, 3 point and dunk contests, and more.  2K even went as far to bring in Snoop Dogg as the live DJ.  But many longtime 2K players like myself were concerned.  2K has long had a reputation for it's poor online infrastructure.  Server lag, connectivity, and stability have been issues since 2K11.  NBA 2K17 is also carrying a host of legacy bugs as well that remain unfixed.  Many more saw Park After Dark as a VC grab with 2K selling expensive party gear in the store.  The stage was set for an abysmal failure and that is exactly what Park After Dark ended up being.  It was a SPECTACULAR DISASTER.  It was also an avoidable one.

So many things went wrong it's hard to speak on the few things that went right.  The atmosphere was lit.  The music was lit.  And.....that's about it.  Everything else was TERRIBLE.  None of the courts worked.  The dunk contest was laughable.  The 3 point contest was barely functional but the lag was so bad you were easily going to wait 20 minutes or more just for a 30 second round of shooting.  It was beyond bad.  What's more, it even crippled park courts that weren't involved with the event.  Almost NO ONE COULD PLAY.  To add insult to injury, there was no "live" DJ.  Snoop at one point yells "Shout out to the ballers on Court 1!!".  Meanwhile court one is empty because no one can play on it.  It was a just an embarrassing mess.

As I said it was also an avoidable mess.  By now the community as a whole is well aware of the poor online functionality of the NBA 2K series.  They are also familiar with the legacy bugs that persist year after year.  That means 2K themselves should also be familiar with them.  Before planning an event of this nature 2K really should've worked overtime to ensure there would be no online issues.  Patches, bug fixes, and contingency plans should have been made before even considering Park After Dark.  The fact that they didn't speaks volumes about just how out of touch 2K is becoming with the community.  Since the event, to my knowledge, 2K also has not apologized to the community or even spoken about it. What's even more hilarious is they have ANOTHER Park After Dark event scheduled relatively soon. They are burning a lot of community good will here and it's fortunate for them that they currently have little to no competition.  Should that change, 2K could see an exodus of disgruntled fans who have just about had enough.

I love NBA 2K.  There is a reason it has become one of the top selling sports sims on the market.  I've been playing 2K since Iverson and Dreamcast.  I've watched it evolve into something special.  NBA 2K17 is still a fantastic game.  My Career is still fun and extremely enjoyable.  That said, these missteps start adding up after awhile.  People eventually get tired of looking over things that really should have been addressed in previous iterations.  Especially when something like this happens.  Park After Dark was a completely unforced error and ridiculous disaster.  2K needs to get it together.  Even the most diehard fans have long memories and they are not soon going to forget this.