NBA 2K21 The City Brings Back Affiliations, Expanded Online Community for Next-Gen
When the NBA 2K21 Next-Gen experience arrives on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, it looks to be bigger than ever before. 2K21 will have a sprawling online community known as NBA 2K21 The City. It should give ballers more space to roam and way more things to do with the game. After years of requests, the big news is that The City will also bring back Affiliations.
Next-Gen to feature NBA 2K21 The City
When NBA 2K21 Neighborhood details arrived for current-gen, it was 2K Beach, which is quite scenic but won’t hold a candle to the next-gen experience. A new Courtside Report arrived on Wednesday (November 4), announcing NBA 2K21 The City details. Basically, it will be a large-scale community featuring tall skyscrapers and city streets, along with quite a lot scattered around the map.
All players will begin at a spot called Rookieville before they can even enter The City. They’ll need to achieve certain goals in this location before the doors open for the rest of the experience.
That experience will include four different boroughs for the North, South, East, and West. Each borough has its own unique vibe and theme and is associated with an Affiliation (details on those below).
An enhanced Event Center is the heart of The City, complete with “dynamic LED screens and lighting elements” to occasionally change the vibe inside. Of course, it features basketball courts inside and has the ability to host intra-Affiliation competitions.
Garage Hoops makes for a simplistic-yet-unique part of NBA 2K21 The City. Basically, there will be hoops on the side of buildings throughout the map, giving ballers the ability to use a ball and start shooting. Another player can join in, and that can ultimately launch a game of HORSE, 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3.
It’s important to note that The City will accommodate a lot of MyPlayers at once. In addition, they’ll each be able to have their own custom basketballs of choice and dribble them around the streets. Dancing will also be available, as well as the ability to do tricks with skateboards and BMX bikes.
People of the City, Fireball, and Pink Diamond Plaza
Another detail for The City experience is People of the City, which will feature unique individuals around the map. They are identified with exclamation points overhead and will give an RPG vibe to the game with specific quests or objectives for gamers to fulfill.
Those quests and objectives could involve 3v3 games inside unique Warehouse locations, or simply going out to play games within The City map. Gamers earn unique or special rewards such as gear for completing these.
There will be a Fireball as part of Affiliations, to represent a team having won 10 games in a row. They’ll play their next game using a ball that is literally engulfed in flames, making for a sight to behold. As mentioned in 2K’s report, it will cause other ballers to gather around to watch that Affiliation play. It will also bring the best ballers out to try to dethrone the undefeated squad.
A Pink Diamond Plaza sounds like another attractive location found within NBA 2K21 The City. Park Diamond Plaza includes a DJ, fluorescent lights, and a basketball court on top of it. It will be the host site for the MyTEAM Triple Threat Online experience.
Affiliations make their official return on next-gen
As mentioned, 2K fans will be quite excited by the return of Affiliations for NBA 2K21 Next-Gen’s The City. The fans have asked for a while now. The four affiliations will be the North Side Knights, South City Vipers, Beasts of the East, and Western Wildcats. Each Affiliation will have its own borough with unique court locations.
With Affiliations will come Player Rep where ballers can level up and strengthen their MyPlayers through playing on their home courts. There will also be a new addition with Mayors- individuals elected by vote to organize, rally, and lead each Affiliation. Some of their duties will include creating in-game videos, curating custom music playlists for the borough, and choosing court design along with uniform selection.
Affiliations will also participate in Rival Day Conquest and Rival Day Championship events. The Conquest allows Affiliations to invade other boroughs and try to take over the courts. At the end of the Rival Day Conquest, the four Affiliations are ranked based on their scores. Those scores will determine seeds for Rival Day Championship, where all four Affiliations compete to become crowned best of The City.
The return of Affiliations, in particular, should please a lot of fans anticipating NBA 2K21 next-gen. However, The City as a whole sounds like it could be quite the experience for the new video game consoles. This could easily be the future of sports games and interactive online experiences.
NBA 2K21 Next-Gen launches on November 10 for Xbox Series X/S and November 12 for PlayStation 5. Gamers can purchase a copy of the next-gen game for $69.99. There’s also Mamba Forever Edition for $99.99 which gives both current and next-gen editions of the game.
For more current and next-gen game details, visit our NBA 2K page.