The NBA 2K series is now massive- we have known this for a while now. But we haven’t known just how massive it is, with respect to its competition. You see, it is easy to forget this sometimes, but the NBA 2K games aren’t the only basketball games on the market- EA Sports also releases its middling NBA Live series. And if these market numbers are anything to go by, well, I am not sure why they bother, really.
According to an extrapolation of NPD sales numbers (via NeoGAf), NBA Live 2016 just sold 8,300 copies during its first month on the market in September- this is contrasted against NBA 2K16’s performance in the same month, which sold over a million copies, and became the highest selling game of the month, in a tracking period which included the launch of heavyweight major games such Destiny: The Taken King, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Super Mario Maker. Oh, and also? NBA 2K16 released midway through the tracking period.
At this point, it’s still not clear why EA is even persisting, though I guess their very existence keeps 2K Sports on their toes, so… that’s good, I guess.