[TjRhythmic]

Originally Posted by Joborule

It's easy to forget, and may not really count since it was unlicensed, as well may not have been intended to be an annual release but 2K did make another football game in 2008; All-Pro Football 2K8.

I find the argument that you need to have competition to make a good game a weak one. Sure, having it does give incentive to push out a better game, but when it's vacant doesn't mean that the game series isn't going to developed to the best of it's ability. When you look at franchises like MLB The Show, is 2K really their rival since The Show is only produced on one console? And considering how weak 2Ks offerings were, by this theory, MLB The Show didn't need to push the envelop since their competition was fairly weak, but yet they continued to do so.

On the other hand, 2K had no third party competitor, so they apparently were doing what so many feared, and that was produce bad games due to no incentive innovate, but that didn't work out for them since people weren't interested in buying a bad product. You still have to make a game that's progressed enough year-to-year in order to make sales. There is no benefit in resting on your exclusive licence if the games aren't worth buying. This is why exclusive licence or not, you need to make good games so you're maximizing your potential revenue.

The NBA games are another example of competition that's so one-sided, that did the present of the inferior product really make a difference? NBA 2K year in, year out performed well while NBA Live faltered behind. Took a year off to revamp, and faceplanted to the ground on their restart. Meanwhile NBA 2K remains on top, making enough progress from the previous iteration to encourage consumers to go out and buy the new game.

If a series isn't doing as well as people expect, I would blame that more on the direction of the development team, rather than the lack of a direct rival, because as shown, competition doesn't mean both games are going to be close on the quality spectrum. What happen to NHL 2K when NHL took over Gen 3? NBA Live once NBA 2K took over the reigns? Why weren't these two products unable to keep the pace?

This post isn't condescending enough...