You know how when you get a basketball game, it usually comes with your favorite players? How archaic, right?
A truly modern basketball game would make you work for your players -- and by work we mean actual paid work, which gives you money that you can pass on to the game. Of course, to ensure a maximum amount of pride and accomplishment, these payments go towards loot boxes that would only give you a chance to unlock the player you want. After all, what's more satisfying than dumping money into a game to finally, finally unlock Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward?
If this sounds like exactly what you want in a basketball game, then 2k Games's upcoming NBA 2K playgrounds may just end up being is the game for you. In an unlisted video posted to what appears to be the official "NBA 2K Playgrounds Mobile" YouTube channel, it's none-too shy about its loot box mechanics.
The game is now available in some regions to beta testers on Android, and is based on a 2017 console game that was similar in style to Midway's NBA Jam games of old. But a fun feature of this release is that all players are missing unless you purchase them using in-game currency, which conveniently can be purchased using real currency.
The mobile game looks to follow in its predecessors footsteps, since people have proven that they'll pay good money to roll the dice and hope that it unlocks the content that would have just been there to begin with in older games.
Of course, being tied to in-app purchases means that the game needs to consistently be online and connect to 2K Games' servers for people to play it. This has the added benefit of consistent connection issues for the beta testers, who have taken to the Google Play review section with complaints of unending loading screens and login failures.
Some may consider this a negative, but perhaps it's best to view it as a money-saving feature.
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Source: Destructoid