In a very progressive development, NBA 2K20 has announced that WNBA females will be included in the upcoming installment of the popular basketball video game.
Sadly, though, it seems that many are against the move and aren't hugely supportive of it, as lots of sexist comments and memes have surfaced since the revelation. Apparently, some fans are of the view that women aren't good enough to be in video games of the sports genre, and they are making no secret of it.
2K dropped the reveal on Twitter earlier this week, featuring the Los Angeles Sparks' Candace Parker and Seattle Storm's Breanna Stewart.
“It’s just as important for girls and boys to be able to see females as role models,” Parker claimed.
Some of the people who commented weren't in agreement.
“Why are females in an NBA game?” one wrote.
“This is a L we all know girls can’t hoop," another declared.
“As soon as the news dropped, there was a vocal portion of the community who was strongly against it,” NBA 2K subreddit moderator Yyy2k said via Kotaku. “Some had reasons like how this was an unneeded feature that took time away from development of ‘more important’ things. Some went for sexist comments/jokes/memes making fun of women and WNBA players.”
Below is one of the popular, more distasteful memes going around.
MrPeterson15, who also moderates an NBA 2K subreddit, as well as an NBA Live one, says the reception was mostly positive. NBA Live added women in their game two years ago and the moderator says that most Live players are either people who quit 2K or gamers who play both titles.
"Our franchise has always been rooted in capturing the true essence of basketball–it doesn’t matter who is playing–if you love the game, you love the game," a 2K spokesperson told Kotaku, following a request for comment. "As true lovers of basketball, we take great pride in bringing the women’s game to the millions of NBA 2K fans around the globe.”
This is something many NBA 2K fans will be in disapproval of. While the WNBA isn't nearly as popular as the NBA, females can definitely hoop, and the product has become so much better over the years. Sure, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but it's not like 2K is forcing anyone to play as females. If players are so against it, they have the option to avoid that part of the game if they wish. As such, there isn't much room for complaint.
Meanwhile, those who are pleased with the news will be glad to know that all WNBA teams will be available with their full rosters.