The NBA 2K24 gameplay and experience the dawn of a new era in realism and authenticity with ProPLAY technology, debuting on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.
ProPLAY takes the franchise to unprecedented heights by leveraging cutting-edge technology to seamlessly translate real-life movements from actual NBA matches into NBA 2K24 gameplay.
Earlier, the 2K has guided athletes in recreating their signature moves using the mocap techniques.
ProPLAY enables the most accurate representations of contested step-backs, acrobatic layups, and more by directly translating the NBA footage. Players will also see a disparity in shots, free throws, off-ball offense, and defense.
“Our commitment to evolving the NBA 2K experience based on community feedback is a big reason why dedicated players and basketball fans have continued to play the game for the past 25 years,” said Mike Wang, Gameplay Director at Visual Concepts. “We’ve delivered NBA 2K24 gameplay enhancements that are more skill-based and intuitive, accelerating the gameplay experience for the entire community.”
• Intuitive offense:
Shooting and dribbling are more accessible and intuitive, enabling players of all skill levels to flourish on the court.
The moves are customized and improved to serve any difficulty, and the ability to initiate electrifying dribbling sequences will help players create more space for high-percentage shots.
• Skill-based defense:
Counter moves are big in NBA 2K24. Perimeter and paint defense are more effective and reward players for anticipating and making good reads.
• Adrenaline Boosts:
Redesigned to make both offense and defense more engaging. Elite ball handlers will find more freedom to create, and effective defenders can impact shooting abilities by locking ball handlers down.
• Coach with ease:
2K Smart Play is back on New Gen to help players streamline their offense, defense, and coaching to make it easy to call plays. Choose up to 16 preferred actions ranging from full-plays to isolations and give-and-goes.
• Takeovers:
Takeover returns for New Gen consoles in NBA 2K24 but with a new twist. Fill up the Takeover meter to activate your Finishing, Shooting, Playmaking, Physicals, Defense, and Rebounding abilities.
What’s the difference anyway?
If you’ve ever imagined and practiced hitting a contested shot over the hands of an invisible defender on the blacktop, in your driveway, or in the gym, you know it’s simply not the same as experiencing it in a real game—and that’s essentially the difference between mo-cap, and ProPLAY.
ProPLAY swaps unnatural technology for peak performance in a natural and intense environment, making the game look and feel more authentic and reducing the number of breaks in authenticity.
New and better animations
Every aspect of the game receives an added layer of realism that’s visible in every movement and interaction. Here are some of the new animations for New Gen powered by ProPLAY:
• Jumpshots
• Dunks
• Layups
• Dribble Moves
• Pass Animations
• Signature Movement (Offense & Defense)
Casual inbound passes and unremarkable motions weren’t a priority during the mocap but now cover even the minute details. The totality of the movements results in an entirely new level of legitimacy.
ProPLAY delivers an immersive and authentic game on New Gen, while the gameplay enhancements made across all consoles in NBA 2K24 provide an elevated experience for everyone.
Intuitive Offense
When it comes to offense, shooting, and dribbling are more accessible and intuitive than ever before, enabling players of all skill levels to flourish on the court, whether you’re a new player, a returning player, or an experienced veteran.
Shot Timing
The Shot Timing Release and Time setting is called Shot Timing Visual Cue. Instead of being time-based, you can set your desired release point based on animation cues, like the jump, set point, or shot release. It makes it much easier to play with players and teams you’re not as familiar with.
Layup Timing
Layup timing is now on by default and is much more forgiving for easy finishes at the rim. It also rewards players who master it with the ability to finish tough circus layups in traffic. You’ll also find that advanced layups like floaters, reverse, euros, hop steps, and scoops are much more effective this year and great tools to have as a slasher.
Dunking
For dunkers on New Gen consoles, you can now force controllable rim hangs from any two-hand dunk by keeping the Sprint trigger held when the dunker grabs the rim. Down on the Pro Stick will give you flashy dunks to get the crowd hyped.
Up/Down or Down/Up double throws will let you attempt contact dunks in traffic with the dunk meter. Meter dunks are Green or Miss on higher difficulty levels now, needing you to be precise to finish the play.
Paint Play
The bigs will have fun dominating in the paint in NBA 2K24. You can now branch out of any offensive rebound to a putback attempt by pressing the Shoot button after the catch. Post-fades and hop shots are also really effective shots for post players.
Strength and weight are felt in the paint as high-rated glass cleaners grab boards over smaller players and finish those easy second-chance points.
Dribble Breakdowns
One of Gameplay Director Mike Wang’s favorite elements in NBA 2K24 are the dribble breakdowns. Each player has two versions:
Regular breakdowns are by flicking up on the right analog stick, and Aggressive breakdowns are by flicking up on the right analog stick with Sprint held.
It will initiate a sequence of signature size-up moves that you can use to create separation on your own or branch out of at any time for an explosive drive or another dribble move.
This year’s dribble system features more combos, including signature double crosses and hesitation crosses from a standstill or while moving.
With ProPLAY on New Gen, your favorite ball handlers feel more explosive than ever and have unique signature combos and escapes that will put defenders on skates.
Another addition to the dribbling arsenal is the blowout dribble. Tapping the Sprint trigger while moving will give you a quick burst of speed where the ball handler pushes the ball ahead to get out quickly in transition.
In the frontcourt, it helps in a change of pace to quickly blow by unsuspecting defenders.
Adrenaline Boosts
On offense, boosts are no longer lost when pulling off dribble combos or moving short distances, giving elite ball handlers much more freedom to create off the bounce.
The Boosts will disappear every time the on-ball defender can bump the ball handler on a drive attempt. The cost of losing adrenaline is different this year as well.
Instead of dramatically slowing the ball handler’s movement, losing adrenaline will heavily impact shooting attributes. So if a good defender can clamp the ball handler down and bump them two or three times in a single possession, they’ll have a tough time scoring if they can get free.
NBA 2K24 features in-depth off-ball offense controls to perform the right analog stick jukes and explosive moves to free yourself up for a shot or cut to the basket.
Like the ball handler, the off-ball offense also supports speed bursts by tapping the Sprint trigger. These will give players a burst of speed to find open spots on the floor for spot-up shots, rim runs for dunks, and layups.
Skill-based defense
Countermoves are BIG in NBA 2K24. The Perimeter and paint defense is more effective and rewards players for anticipating and making good reads.
The defensive movement has improved on many fronts, with better responsiveness and less sliding.
It helps defenders get where they need to be, and with the much-improved body-up system, ball handlers will have a tough time getting free against great defenders.
Directional steals are also back, giving locks more tools to pester ball handlers.
You need to reach with the correct hand closest to the ball and avoid reaching across the body to maximize success and avoid foul calls.
You can also use directional steals to play the passing lanes by flicking the right stick in the correct direction to get your hand in the way and deflect the pass.
NBA 2K24 features revamped contest logic that puts weight on body positioning. The new system addresses the “ghost contest” issues in past games, and the coverage scores line up much closer to what gamers will expect.
Takeover
Takeover returns to NBA 2K24 on New Gen consoles, but with a different spin. This year, you don’t assign a Takeover during the build phase and instead can choose whatever you want on the fly.
When you fill-up the Takeover meter, you can pull up a menu that lets you choose between Finishing, Shooting, Playmaking, Defense/Rebounding, or Physicals. Activating one of those categories will boost all your ratings in that specific category.
So now you have the flexibility to evaluate what’s happening on the court to see what your team needs before deciding how you want to take over.
By delaying your Takeover activation and filling up the second meter, you can activate Double Takeover, which allows you to select two different categories of ratings to boost.
Finally, when you unlock Mamba Mentality, activating Double Takeover will boost all your attribute categories and turn you into a true beast on both ends of the floor.
Coach with ease
With the return of 2K Smart Play, it’s easy to make simplified play calls while running the offense. After any made or missed shots.
To opt into the play, tap L1 or the Left Bumper before crossing half-court; that action will automatically select the player with the most relevant play type.
To call your favorite plays, press the directional pad to the left and choose from up to 16 of your preferred actions, where you can call anything from full plays to isolations and gives and gos.
Freelance
Now for those who want to dig deeper into the Xs and Os of NBA 2K24, a new freelance called Comp is added.
This freelance is for competitive players who prefer to control all the movement of their AI teammates.
There are no pass or cut actions in comp freelance. The AI players space the floor at the five outset.
Users can trigger actions using the 16 favorite plays and those available on the directional pad left.
Five new double-action plays are available.
These are mini-plays with two actions combined to create endless quick combos for users to create scoring opportunities.
Give Flare actions with a hand-off leading to a flare screen. Give a fist with a hand-off leading to a ball screen.
Fist flare with a ball screen leading to a flare screen. Screen fist, with an off-ball screen, leading to a ball screen.
A teammate cut-to-basket setting is available with auto and manual options.
The Auto allows the AI to cut when they see an opportunity. With manual selection, the AI will only cut when the user gives them a cut command. Note, this only applies to the freelance and not the AI of specific plays.
This year we also introduce motion freelance, built to create scoring options for players who may not be masters of the playbooks. The motion freelance automatically runs actions based on the best players on the floor.
It can morph from 3 out to 4 out to 5 out and is dynamically updated through our roster updates.
Substitutions
NBA 2K24 features a brand-new lineup and substitution engine. In the past, our AI tends to sub all five players out of the game simultaneously. It would create an environment ripe for scoring droughts from the AI offense.
The new system is built keeping scorers on the floor. The system has data that supports one scorer, two scorer, and three scorer lineups.
The minutes get distributed to keep a scorer on the floor and ensure the starters are in the game at the appropriate times.
The new system also supports 6th man lineups for teams having a bench player who can carry the load. It also can replicate situations where teams have a closing lineup different from their starting lineup.
Having this system built on the ACE offensive game-plan engine means that the offensive focus can change dynamically with the lineups.
It will present a new challenge for users who can use the time the AI had non-scoring lineups on the floor to regain or take the lead.
ProPLAY marks the dawn of a new era for NBA 2K on New Gen. Experience it yourself on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S starting September 8, along with many other gameplay enhancements.
ProPLAY™ technology is only available on New Gen consoles.
