‘NBA Playgrounds’ Will Add Larry Bird, Gary Payton And A Crew Of Legends In Its Next Game-Changing Update


NBA Playgrounds has been out for a few weeks now, and while the game is fun on the surface, a few minutes of playing reveals a plethora of concerning issues. The gameplay feels unbalanced, with three point shots being an overwhelmingly powerful element in a game meant to be all about ridiculous dunks. This certainly reflects the real world NBA, but pairing a couple accurate shooters and you’re basically unstoppable. I personally like pairing Ray Allen and David Robinson. It’s made plenty people rage quit on me (leaving an online game mid-match is not punished, by the way).

Which leads to a damning realization — the game just feels rushed out and incomplete. There are weird moments of slowdown between plays, clunky animations and the act of building up a decent team is an absolute slog. It almost doesn’t feel like it’s worth $20 considering you need to play it for at least 10-20 hours just to unlock enough stuff to have a decent night with friends on the couch, the main reason the game is worth buying. You can’t even play online with friends!

Luckily, developer Saber Interactive knows they need to step up their game. They’re adding more players, more jerseys and are tweaking the gameplay to not only make the all-important three-pointers more difficult to make, but they’re adding a shot meter so mid-range jumpers are makeable. Yes, a three is somehow easier to make than a floater or a shot at the top of the key. Told you this game was broken.

The first patch to Playgrounds looks like it’s fixing many of these issues, and we’re even getting some surprising new players like TNT’s Kenny Smith?!

Here are the first looks at a few of the new players coming in the next update. Rodman gets his classic Pistons jersey (but his Bulls/Spurs hair):


And the patch changelog, which is live now for PC but not yet available for console gamers:

New Features:

Added: The Challenge Mode feature, which allows you to challenge other players to online matches. You can now switch between unranked challenges and ranked games in the online mode. To challenge another player, you must switch to the challenge mode in the online menu and define a challenge code. By default, your challenge code is your nickname, but you can change it to your own, personal code. The person you are challenging must enter your code. If you have been challenged, please enter your challenger’s code and press “Accept.” All challenges are unranked and your ranking/ELO will be unaffected by the results of the challenge.

Added: Toxicity system/Disconnection Manager, which penalizes players who abandon matches in any other way than surrendering.

Added: 5 new versions of Shaquille O´Neal in various teams from his career (Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic)Added: 15 new players join the roster

Added: The following players were added

Dennis Rodman
Isaiah Thomas
Larry Bird
Giannis Antetokoumnpo
Kenny Smith
Gary Payton
Klay Thompson
Devin Booker
Tony Parker
Kemba Walker
Seth Curry
Tiny Archibald
John Starks
Tracy McGrady
Pete Maravich

Added: A shot-meter was added to help to find the perfect timing for shots, dunks etc.
Added: Steam Cloud Save support
Added: Steam Big Picture keyboard management

Notable Changes:

Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations.

Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted further to better fit the intended gameplay. It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent

Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar

Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased

Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)

Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)

Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)

Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)

Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the game

Notable Fixes:

Fixed: Issues related to the strength of the force feedback effects were addressed

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