Kyrie Irving‘s trade to the Boston Celtics was a landscape-altering move in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. It was significant in many ways: two conference rivals swapping point guards. a player asking to be traded away from LeBron James, and the Celtics moving on after an emotional season from Isaiah Thomas.
There was also a significant corporate decision at risk here, too: NBA 2K18 put Irving on its cover, and now it would be a cover that was obsolete before the game ever came out. What happened next was obvious: 2K Sports worked overtime to get the right Irving jersey on its cover and give ways fans to get the right version for themselves.
But it was far from an easy period for the 2K team. NBA 2K’s Ronnie Singh appeared on the Scoop B Radio podcast and talked about the experience, saying it was really difficult to make the necessary changes to keep the game’s cover and branding up to date.
“I think it’s more of a headache than a lot of people think,” Singh said. “The manufacturing doesn’t happen overnight.”
Much of the issue was not in making and switching the cover itself, but in getting rid of and replacing the promotional materials already sent out with Irving in a Cavs uniform.
“We don’t turn on a switch and the games are produced. There is a lot of effect to retail, you know? Like there is signage that will be there that is going to be Cavaliers.”
Sing said it was a fun challenge, and one that certainly made things more interesting across the NBA this summer.
“That’s a huge conversation piece,” Singh said. “It is nice that people relate that huge transaction in the league to thinking about how it affects a 2K cover, so all in all it’s a good thing. But yeah, obviously there are procedural things that are difficult about it, but nothing that we are challenged by. We make it work.”
The game has become a mainstay in the NBA scene. Consider how many fans thought of what would happen to the cover when his trade request was made public over the summer. When your video game comes to mind shortly after real NBA news happens, you know you’re doing something right.
