What do I think of NBA 2K27? After 20 years of playing these games, I don’t even know anymore

I have enjoyed the NBA 2K games for 20 years now. The first, NBA 2K launched in 1999 and I’ve been playing since NBA 2K7. This is the game that made me fall in love with basketball as a sport. At its core, NBA 2K27 continues to be a game that celebrates basketball, and allows people to play almost any way they want – but it’s difficult not to reflect on how many things have changed to become more predatory in that time.

Obviously, it’s physically impossible to play all of every mode for a review, so I’ve focused on the WNBA because the league is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is having a major moment in the spotlight, and seems to be having a massive breakthrough in popularity.

Surely the biggest basketball video game, one which features a WNBA player on one of the cover, would do something to capitalise on that, right? Right?

WNBA mode deserves more attention

I used to come to NBA 2K games for the MNBA, to live in an alternate universe where the Los Angeles Clippers could win. But ever since the WNBA was added in 2019, there’s just something so thrilling about playing in the WNBA mode, getting to know these teams better and immersing myself in a league that we just don’t get to see much of in Australia.

There is also so much to love in the WNBA mode as a basketball fan. The commitment to accuracy goes down to even the type of light bulb used in the stadiums and how it reflects off the boards. As the only online mode, it’s the one that survives after the servers are turned off.

It helps that this is the only mode in NBA 2K27 that is free of micro-transactions. In the WNBA mode, no one is trying to sell you something, there’s only basketball.

What disappoints me, though, is that I could largely just copy-and-paste my review of this mode from last year and most of it would stand up. There are gameplay changes, of course, because the WNBA mode follows from the MNBA mode, but these changes are to better suit the MNBA and the way the MNBA plays.

The WNBA plays differently. The ball is a different size, the court markings are in different spots, there are fewer timeouts, the quarters run for less time, and there are different strategies and plays.

Yet the WNBA mode mostly just plays like an MNBA mode with shorter players. It’s like all those Greek statues where the women just have male-shaped torsos with boobs.

Learning the game

It’s also disappointing that there was so much opportunity here to use the WNBA mode as a showcase for the league. A huge amount of money is going into promoting the WNBA at the moment. The sport is getting more attention now than ever (for both good and bad reasons) and this 30th anniversary could have been a good opportunity to have an expanded career mode that took players through the history of the WNBA in a deeper way than the existing GOAT system.

But what if there was a mode that celebrated iconic WNBA players and teams throughout the league like the MNBA gets every year? NBA 2K7 was my introduction to men’s basketball and who played, with subsequent games teaching me the history of the league. Why can’t we get something similar for women’s basketball when 2K already has most of the pieces available to do that?

What upsets me the most is the commentary. The men’s mode gets the professional announcers from the actual broadcasts, with half-time shows and (occasionally) insightful commentary.

In the WNBA we get the same voice actors as the high school games in the MyCareer mode, and while they do talk a little about the draft and league expansion, it’s all incredibly surface level. It doesn’t feel like the script was written by a subject matter expert in the same way the MNBA commentary does.

I can’t imagine it would have broken the budget to get the actual WNBA commentators, given the historic underpayments in the WNBA. Having the actual commentators would have added to the experience for current fans, and further primed future fans for watching the game on broadcast. Players deserve more than “I don’t know how many times she’s done that this game, but it’s a lot” every time I make a three point shot – including the first time in my first game.

However, if I take away all my expectations for how the WNBA should play – and what kind of respect should be given a 30-year-old league that is currently having an incredible run with exciting players, and all the things that could be done with that – and if I turn off commentary, I love this mode.

It feels so retro and quaint to have a mode where you just play basketball, compare yourself to the greats, and then have very polite and friendly press conferences. I loved it back in 2024, and I love it again now. If 2K continues to not update the mode, I will probably complain and then love again regardless next year too.

What’s new in NBA 2K27

The big upgrade I did appreciate is the new Build-As-You-Go and Attribute Caps system. It means that you can evolve the game of your player as you progress your career, taking attributes and then changing it up as you go.

I dislike unlocking physical attributes as you go, and having your player evolve to be more muscular or skinnier as you progress. In real life, of course, people’s bodies change over time, but there’s just something about it that strikes a discordant note in 2026 with the prevalence of body image issues for both men and women. We are harkening back to 1990s thinspiration and men on peptides trying to overcome body dysmorphia, and I’m not sure if this kind of character body shape progression adds enough to the game.

In the end is this an accurate and true representation of the WNBA? Not really. Does that bother me? Yes. Am I still having a good time anyway? Also yes. If a basketball fan is going to play any part of NBA 2K27, it should be the WNBA, just for the sheer love of the game.

In NBA 2K27, women are also now allowed in The City, with a full MyPlayer build experience for WNBA players for the first time. The female MyPlayers can’t participate in the full MyCareer mode, but they can now be included in multiplayer games across the city.

This is still a mode where height is important, and it’s impossible to be competitive without spending an extra $100 on VC/grinding like its your full-time job. But it’s nice to see both women and men have the opportunity to be fleeced.

I enjoy the exercise of designing my ideal player, considering what attributes I want, and then having full control over how she progresses. I remain terrible and uncompetitive in multiplayer, so I wish there were more single-player opportunities for these female MyPlayers (like a full MyCareer mode). But the updates to animations and shot timing for NBA 2K27 has addressed a lot of player feedback and improved the experience significantly.

It would be better if you could respec your player at any time. I find it stressful spending VC on attributes when I’m not certain they’re going to make improvements to how I play in the way that I hope. If I was able to get the VC refunded as credits to change up stats differently, I think I would feel more positively towards the VC system than I do now. We’ve seen a little how it can work in WNBA, let’s try it in The City on a larger, more customisable scale.

That said, I do still hate The City as a concept. It is still basically just a menu that takes a long time to traverse and is filled with micro-transactions. I dislike that the MNBA MyCareer is tied to it and that it is unavoidable. I’m sure that one day there will be a good open-world basketball RPG, I just don’t know why NBA 2K is trying to shoehorn a bad one into this game when it doesn’t fit.

I haven’t finished the men’s MyCareer yet, because there is simply too much game here to do everything, but I’m enjoying it.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints online saying that it’s unrealistic that a former five-star prospect who flamed out after a serious back injury would be instantly recognised across the country at random basketball courts, and that this amount of sabotage in the G-League is unrealistic. I firmly believe that those people have never seen One Tree Hill, because I see a lot of parallels between Nathan Scott’s story and that of MP.

All MP needs is a rockstar wife he married at 16 and a child born at graduation, and it would actually be One Tree Hill. I feel wrong playing for the LA Clippers instead of Charlotte because of it.

(On a related note, I would play the hell out of an NBA 2K One Tree Hill reboot video game.)

What is holding NBA 2K27 back from being great?

Greed, mostly. The actual gameplay is largely excellent, it’s all the nonsense around it that makes it difficult to recommend.

This is a premium, AAA game. To buy it new at launch it costs between $70 and $240 depending on the edition and console you’re buying for. Why is it being run like a free-to-play game? To have proper fun in The City, you need to have a properly specced MyPlayer, which you can only get by playing the game as a full-time job, or by spending more money (around $50 will get you an acceptable rating, and $100 will make you competitive).

To play MyTeam, you need to buy lootboxes/booster packs with VC to get a competitive team. Then there are the battle passes, which further drive up the cost.

That’s already really bad. Premium games should not be filled with dark patterns and constant attempts to shake you down for more money.

But then there’s the fact that the servers get turned off after two years and you lose access to your MyTeam and MyPlayers. The only thing you’ll have to show for your $240 purchase (plus whatever other extras) on the 1st of January 2029 is access to the WNBA mode, the one part of the game that is free of micro-transactions.

Why are players just accepting this as normal? Not to sound 1000-years-old, but back in my day you could buy a game and then play it for as long as you had access to that console. Even if you could no longer access multiplayer modes, you could still at least play the career mode. Now, because of The City, the MNBA MyCareer mode goes away, too.

I understand why 2K wants this – it’s a company that wants to make money and return on shareholder investment. The beancounters don’t want you to still be playing NBA 2K20 when you could be buying NBA 2K27. I just don’t understand why there hasn’t been unavoidable outrage about this from the players.

And that’s before I get into my surprise that NBA 2K27 is only rated M, given there’s a part of The City that revolves around sports betting. You can wager VC, which can be bought with real money, on the outcome of a game you participate in in The City. This would seem to fall under gambling.

The game already earned an M for having lootboxes (card packs for MyTeam), and the National Classifications Scheme suggests that games with simulated gambling get bumped up to higher ratings. I think players having control over the outcome of the games they wagered (up to $8 worth of) VC on saved them. But 2K is walking a fine line here.

ScreenHub: Inside the Australian Classification Board – how ratings decisions are really made

I would happily let any kid I know play the WNBA mode, but I wouldn’t in a million years let them near The City or MyTeam, which is such a shame. Sports and sports games should be for everyone.

At its core, this is still the greatest basketball game of all time. The MNBA parts are so accurate, and even the WNBA stadiums a perfect down to the little details. When you’re playing basketball with a decent player or team, it’s pure poetry.

It’s just all the parts that aren’t basketball that are the problem, and it’s getting worse every year.

For now, this is a game that I will keep playing for the rest of the year and enjoy. I just don’t know if I can recommend it in good conscience given all the non-basketball nonsense.

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