Earlier this week I had the chance to chat to Wouter Van Vugt, 2K’s Head of International Communications about NBA 2K19. Van Vugt is a longtime fan and player of the game, having worked on it for four years.
During our discussion, I asked Van Vugt how the development team at Visual Concepts can innovate with each title rather than iterate. Van Vugt simpy said, “Look at the game.” He has a lot of faith in the design and development of the game and the team behind it.
“When I first saw the game like ‘Wow! Shit, these guys really do a lot of stepping up every year.’ If you compare 16 to 17 to 18, you see a big difference in the way the game looks. It’s because these guys focus on delivering the best experience, and the best looking.”
NBA 2K19 Sound Design
One thing that really stood out during our chat was the level of detail Visual Concepts has put into the sound design for NBA 2K19. Specifically, that Visual Concepts travelled to each and every arena in the United States (and Canada) and recorded the sounds of the ball, the buzzers and the crowd.
Visual Concepts is so dedicated to creating an authentic experience that it has worked hard so that when you hear the sound of the ball in the Oracle Arena it sounds like it does in real-life. Better still, the sound the ball makes when it bounces in the Oracle Arena will be different to that of the Verizon Centre.
According to Van Vugt, this level of detail helps create “the most authentic basketball experience you can get and that’s where 2K19 really delivers.”
Every year VC works their ass off to make the game better and they succeed every year to deliver a better experience for everyone.
It doesn’t really matter what mode you play. There’s a whole bunch of it in 2K. Every mode is better every year and I think that it doesn’t really matter what you play in 2K.
It’s more fun, it’s better, it’s better experience and I really can’t wait for people to play.
NBA 2K19 will be available on September 11, 2018.
