The Original NBA 2K Game Has Sold Over 60 Million Copies In Its Lifetime

The popular NBA 2K game was initially released for Dreamcast in 1999 and has generated over $7 billion in revenue.

By Shahmeer Sarfaraz May 21, 2023

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The original NBA 2K was initially released for Dreamcast in 1999.
Over the years, the game has sold over 60 million copies and generated over $7 billion in revenue.
The game was also ported to GameCube, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 in the years following its launch.

Marcus Matthews, the producer of the original NBA 2K and NFL 2K, has revealed on his LinkedIn profile that the first NBA 2K game, which was released back in 1999 for Dreamcast, has sold over 60 million copies in its lifetime, generating over $7 billion in revenue worldwide. The game was published by SEGA and was later released for GameCube, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3.

NBA 2K franchise generated over $7 billion in revenue based on 60 million copies sold pic.twitter.com/DIzUQaL4Ay

— Timur222 (@bogorad222) May 21, 2023

Timur222 on Twitter discovered the detail under the “About” section of Marcus Matthews’ LinkedIn profile. Additionally, the “About” section also revealed that Marcus Matthews had worked on overseeing the design and development of the original NBA 2K game.

The original NBA 2K game for Dreamcast set the foundation of the entire NBA 2K franchise, which is still going strong for over two decades, with their latest installment NBA 2K23, released in September 2022. The franchise is known for releasing a new installment each year and has been doing it since 1999 when the first NBA 2K game was launched.

The NBA 2K games are simply sports simulation video games that emulate the National Basketball Association. The player takes control of their team or an individual player in a game of basketball. The game follows the rules of a real basketball game, and the environment and setting resemble that of an official NBA match. Over the years, NBA 2K franchise has continued to improve and introduce additional features and improvements with each installment.

Despite their massive popularity, the NBA 2K franchise has received mixed reviews over the years. Fans have complained that each installment is just a glorified copy of the previous game, while some fans have also claimed that each installment has further perfected the gameplay and mechanics to its peak. Regardless of that, the NBA 2K franchise is an excellent choice for anyone interested in basketball video games.

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