Basketball is the name of the game with NBA 2K25, but developer Visual Concepts decided to mix things up last month with Gravity Ball. The $8 add-on was described by the studio as “a mashup of American-Gladiators-meets-futuristic-basketball-meets-paintball.”
During a Take-Two Interactive earnings call, an analyst asked CEO Strauss Zelnick if NBA 2K25 adding the futuristic mode might be a new model for major franchises going forward. “I mentioned our three-part strategy, and the middle part being innovation, and I’m really proud that Visual Concepts and 2K decided to innovate with Gravity Ball, most importantly, creatively,” Zelnick answered. “And then secondarily, as a matter of business model. And we’ve already learned a lot. It’s a great little minigame, really terrific.”
Zelnick added that “consumers really like” Gravity Ball in NBA 2K25, though stressed that it’s “too early to call it a trend.” While Fortnite has turned into a bigger platform for a host of games–Fortnite Festival and Lego Fortnite, for example–Take-Two isn’t necessarily going all in on that strategy.
“It’s too early to say that, ‘OK, our future is paid minigames inside bigger platform-type games.’ But I think it’s a reflection of the fact that our creative teams are open-minded and are willing to try new things and aren’t being precious about the IP that they create,” Zelnick said.
The Take-Two CEO had a lot to say on the earnings call, not just related to NBA 2K25. Zelnick touched on the Borderlands movie bombing, though noted it actually helped video game sales for the series. He also explained that only focusing on sequels could spell disaster.
NBA 2K25 launched in September on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. The Gravity Ball mode was introduced last month, but it’s only available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
