2K sports games are a scam

[macoman]

This is why I will never buy another 2K sports game. You spent a lot of money on the game and any add-ons that expand the experience. As soon as the game is 4 or 5 years old, they decide to shutdown the servers so the players can move on to their latest games. To be fair, this is with all digital games that depend on servers to be able to run. I dislike all these type of games now. Feels like renting or borrowing the game and then the owner decides to take it away from you after you paid.

[Circaflex]

Sports games are always tricky, I did read that this could also possibly be because the Augusta rights are expiring soonish and EA was bought by the Saudis who now have a direct competitor with the PGA in LIV I.I mixed up EA and 2K with this game. I do agree though, games that depend on servers and have no local content (ie play against pros from 2023) is frustrating.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

So, who set the expectation that all online features would be provided ad-infinitum?  While yes, it's crap - I'm thinking that "scam" is a bit strong...

Protest with your wallet, stop buying their products!

[macoman]

On 30/03/2026 at 04:44, Nik Louch said:

So, who set the expectation that all online features would be provided ad-infinitum?  While yes, it's crap - I'm thinking that "scam" is a bit strong...

Protest with your wallet, stop buying their products!

Yup that's what I will do from now on... Never again buy a game that depends on servers to function properly.

[Brony]

It is a scam because they never warned you, in plain sight, the product/service you are purchasing has an expiry date.

 

[macoman]

On 30/03/2026 at 08:47, Brony said:

It is a scam because they never warned you, in plain sight, the product/service you are purchasing has an expiry date.

 

Agree completely... Thanks for pointing it out. These big companies never warn you that the game you are purchasing has an expiry date and once it reaches that date, you are not longer able to play the game. The $40 or $50 dollars that we paid it's gone. This is why it feels like we are renting the game.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 30/03/2026 at 13:47, Brony said:

It is a scam because they never warned you, in plain sight, the product/service you are purchasing has an expiry date.

 

That’s fair actually yeah…

[SystemKernel]

I think the frustration here comes more from the expectation vs reality. When you buy a game, especially at full price, it doesn’t feel like you’re getting something temporary, even if technically it depends on online services.

At the same time, I can also see the other side – maintaining servers forever probably isn’t realistic, especially for yearly sports titles where the player base moves on quickly.

What makes it feel off here is that the “expiry” aspect isn’t really communicated clearly. If it was more transparent from the start, I guess fewer people would feel like they lost access to something they paid for.

[tsupersonic]

Vote with your wallet and don't buy. TBH, you should know better than to support these annual releases of sports game -it's never good.