For NBA 2K fans in high school, it’s officially your time to shine.
After a partnership between Publisher 2K and Black-owned esports company PlayVS, the popular basketball video game is on its way to becoming a high school varsity esport in the U.S. and Canada, Forbes reports.
In the spring, NBA 2K will be added to PlayVS for gamers to begin their online matches. Keeping in mind the reality that everyone doesn’t have the ability to play contact sports, the new partnership aims to provide more inclusivity for students, along with helping to improve attendance, grades and graduation rates — even as far as eventually competing at collegiate and professional levels.
“Bringing NBA 2K, one of the most highly demanded titles among our player base, to high schools across the country is a monumental opportunity in scholastic esports,” PlayVS founder and CEO Delane Parnell said in a statement. “Since the founding of PlayVS, it has been our vision to grow esports opportunities at the high school level in close collaboration with leading game publishers and this new alliance with 2K is no exception.”
PlayVS
NBA 2K is joining the platform’s high school esports leagues including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, League of Legends, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Madden NFL 22, and Rocket League, according to the outlet.
The addition follows PlayVS acquiring GameSeta in January 2021. As previously reported by AfroTech, the move’s intention was to have help in its “growth phase.”
“We’re going to launch some direct consumer products directly in partnership with publishers to open up the PlayVS ecosystem so people can organize and join competitions, whether they are associated with high schools or otherwise,” Parnell previously said in a statement to Crunchbase. “We’re really excited about that. The markets in general have just shown a great appetite for gaming as a form of entertainment and content. Obviously, players are really excited about eSports as a form of content and a way to engage in competition and so we want to make sure that PlayVS is a place where people compete more broadly.”
