Monopolization and the Murder of Gaming Culture

Op-Ed By: Joaquin D. Valle, Writer | BCS Chronicle

Many consider the 2000’s to be the peak of gaming. Since gaming was not as mainstream as it is today, companies and developers tended to be more ambitious with their games with most major titles from that time feeling complete and leaving an impression on fans.

A lot of the games and game franchises that are still popular today are from the 2000’s, including: Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto V, Halo, Assassin’s Creed, Super Smash Bros, The Sims 4, NBA 2K. This might just be my opinion, but there used to be so much creativity in video games, including: engaging storylines, extra features, and elaborate characters.

During this time, the gaming culture was booming. There were huge conventions celebrating video games and showcasing trailers for new games. Each game was unique in its own way and gamers could feel the ambition from the developers as they played. Today, everything is completely different with games feeling rushed and incomplete, or being rip-offs of popular games. 

In my opinion, the epitome of evil in the gaming industry comes from the popular video game company known as 2K Games owned by Take-Two Interactive. 2K Games is responsible for the popular video game series NBA 2K, a NBA basketball simulation game where fans can play as their favorite NBA players and teams.

When the game first released, the company put a lot of time and effort into making the game, adding different game modes that took fans by storm. There was passion in the work they created, and fans loved as it slowly rose in popularity. 

 In 2005, the company was able to acquire the official licensing from the NBA in order to use all the logos, teams, and players’ image and likeness in their games. Rival game series began losing money over time and eventually discontinued their respective series.  With the official license and the introduction of popular game modes like MyCareer and MyTeam, NBA 2K officially took over the basketball video game market.

MyTeam is a game mode where players can make their own basketball team with past, present, and future NBA players to compete with others online. In order to get new players, gamers can open packs with hopes of getting good cards to improve their teams. MyCareer allows fans to make their own personal basketball player and live out their NBA dreams. Gamers can also take their player to an online park, where they can compete with others. 

With the competitors out of the picture, 2K Games stopped making updates for their game modes, forcing fans to play these big money-making modes. In order to get packs and improve their personal players, fans needed to use in-game currency called VC (virtual currency). 2K Sports made it harder for players to earn VC, so users were more inclined to spend real life money to progress faster. 

According to the Playstation Store for the newest NBA 2K, $50 US American Dollars will buy 200,000 VC and $100 will buy about 450,000 VC.

According to The New York Times, Take-Two Interactive reported that they earned $4.2 billion from micro transactions alone. What's worse, when a smaller company makes a good game that fans enjoy, 2K Sports and Take-Two buy the entire company, preventing the creation of new and exciting games. 

It is a growing problem, that as monopolization continues, the same tactics are being used in most games that have been newly released.

The gaming community is not as strong as it used to be; gamers from around the world are being milked for all of their money as companies are releasing unfinished games and remakes of old ones. There is a genuine dissatisfaction in the community, and users are becoming aware of what is going on.