The National Basketball Association and 2K Sports have teamed up for an official eSports league and the competitive gaming world may never be the same.
On Thursday, the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software announced their plans to launch the NBA 2K eLeague, per a news release provided to Forbes. It will be a professional gaming league backed by the NBA. This is the first time in history a competitive gaming league will be operated by an American professional sports league.
The new venture is scheduled to start in 2018. The teams will be run by real NBA organizations. Those teams are expected to be announced in the next few months. Each team will have five professional eSports players.
The league will run on a format consistent to most American sports leagues. There will be head-to-head competition with a regular season, playoffs and a championship matchup. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said this about the partnership:
“The popularity of NBA 2K with the young and growing eSports community provides a unique opportunity to develop something truly special for our fans and the gaming community. We look forward to combining our best-in-class NBA team operators with Take-Two’s competitive gaming expertise to create a brand new league experience.”
Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two offered:
“The NBA 2K series is renowned throughout the world for capturing the authenticity of the NBA and the passion of its fans. eSports is a growing segment of our industry, and we will aim to take the thrill of competition to exciting new heights through our partnership with the NBA.”
EA Sports' Madden, FIFA, NHL and UFC games have all thrown their hat into the eSports ring to varying degrees, but the publisher has been unable to make a power move of this magnitude. Having NBA franchises run the eSports teams gives the league a vested interest in the success of this venture.
That will likely lead to exposure for NBA 2K's eSports presence that would have been difficult to attain for Take-Two on its own. This could potentially put NBA 2K in a position to rival iconic eSports titles such as Starcraft, Call of Duty, Counter Strike and Defense of the Ancients in domestic popularity.
If nothing else, the partnership shows how much Take-Two and the NBA believes in the current and future popularity of eSports in America.
Stay tuned for more details and information as it becomes available.
