Visual Concepts on NBA 2K25's gameplay and 'cool' new features

Improved customization and so many new animations

Visual Concepts

Visual Concepts had big dreams for NBA 2K24, and even putting aside discontent with microtransactions, it’s safe to say the sports game didn’t quite live up to its makers’ goals. A lackluster MyCareer mode, unevenness between offense and defense, and no feature parity between PC and console left a sour taste - and a low Metacritic user score. NBA 2K gameplay director Mike Wang is well aware of what went wrong in 2K24 and, during a roundtable press event GLHF attended, dug deep into how he and his team improved NBA 2K25’s gameplay, customization, and approachability.

Wang says ProPlay and a new dribble engine are what make some of NBA 2K25’s biggest improvements possible. Visual Concepts started using ProPlay, a system that translates NBA professionals’ movements into animation data, for NBA 2K24, but didn’t have the time or resources to make as much use of it. He says the studio restructured whole teams around the system and obtained an “overwhelming amount of data and access to new animations.” In practical terms, some of what that translates to is:

• 9,000 new TK
• 1,500 new dribble animations
• 1,000 signature shots
• 1,300 off-ball animations
• 800 rebounds
• 1,000 passes
• 400 dunks

Wang says the dunks alone number roughly five times the number of animations Visual Concepts usually work into the game.

2K25 gives you greater control over your shot profiles. / Visual Concepts

NBA 2K’s new dribble engine – the first in 15 years – processes all that data independently and turns it into something usable. Wang says that previously, he would have to edit and piece animations together himself and feed them into the old engine, which often resulted in errors and limited how many

All that data and Visual Concepts’ new methods of processing it means the design team can create complex animations and let players do more interesting things with them. Wang listed off just a few of the improved moves and features he’s excited for players to tinker with, including better, more accurate signature shots, dribble-into shots, and as close to 1:1 recreations of the “best moves and combos” from the NBA’s brightest stars.

Speaking of new moves, NBA 2K25 has plenty of them for defenders in a revamp Wang says players have wanted for years. On-ball defenders will, at last, have the same tools dribblers have. They can pull off escape moves, fancy slides, and even jump and collision moves to try and wrest the ball from opponents, and while that might not sound like much, Wang says it makes games feel more balanced and interesting.

Customization is NBA 2K25’s other major area of improvement. 2K24 introduced shot timing, a system with a high skill ceiling where the quality of your shot depends on the timing of your button and stick movements. The problem was that it forced players to adapt or just deal with poor shots, which is certainly a choice. NBA 2K25 lets you create shot timing profiles, where you can adjust the level of risk and reward and change how much influence timing has on your shot – from no influence, so direction is all that matters, to creating a tiny window of opportunity for the best possible throw.

2K25 adds another high-skill – and optional – feature: “press-stick rhythm shooting.” You hold the stick in one direction, push it in rhythm with the shooting motion, then release and complete the stick throw when the ball leaves the player’s hand. Wang calls it a “cool way to play” and “one of those things that, once you play for a while, makes it hard to go back to traditional shooting.”

Plenty of training and gentle challenges for new players / Visual Concepts

Wang says the gameplay team wanted to add more high-skill options to help advanced players enjoy their time with NBA 2K25, though they’ve ensured players of all skill levels can tailor the game to suit their needs. One of those customization options involves a complete overhaul of NBA 2K25’s AI system. Wang acknowledges that the AI was more than a little frustrating in previous games, especially for players attempting to learn NBA 2K on lower difficulty settings. Opponents tended to become more aggressive against players at lower skill levels, which is hardly a good way to convince those players to stick with the game.

NBA 2K25’s AI is more reactive to how you customize the game and shot settings, Wang says. Opponents are smarter at higher difficulty levels and more forgiving at lower skill levels, so everyone should have a smoother and more enjoyable experience, regardless of what they’re after.

Best of all, Wang says NBA 2K25’s PC version will have feature parity with the console version. One of the strangest choices with NBA 2K24 was locking some of the newer, highly anticipated features to console only, a decision that did little to please fans.

NBA 2K25 releases on Sep. 6, 2024, for PC via Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.