Take-Two head honcho Strauss Zelnick has revealed during a chat with Game File’s Stephen Totilo that the planed NFL 2K video game that was originally announced back in 2020 is no longer happening.
When asked about the NFL license at 2K, the executive admitted that things didn’t “work out creatively,” and as such it appears nothing will come to fruition in regards to the project.
“What we hoped would come to fruition creatively did not. Some of the stuff we tried to do didn’t work out creatively,” said the executive. However, he added that something may happen “if an opportunity presents itself.”
The NFL 2K project was reported to have been restarted at least twice during production, according to a report on Insider Gaming from back in 2023. Due to the exclusive deal between NFL and Electronic Arts however, the NFL title could not take on the form of a simulation title, and as such 2K ran into problems finding a middle ground. Take-Two stopped talking about the NLF deal during its earnings calls from 2024, leading many to assume the project was in trouble.
The NFL 2K franchise was originally developed by Visual Concepts and published by SEGA, being exclusive to the Dreamcast until the discontinuation of that system and eventually making its way to the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox.
[Source – The Game File via Insider Gaming]