Ronnie 2K Breaks Down Revamped And Redefined NBA 2K25 [Exclusive] (2024)

September is around the corner, which means the release of NBA 2K25 is almost here. This year's edition of the franchise's video game has been taken to a whole other level, and there aren't many people closer to it than Ronnie 2K himself.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was named the cover athlete for NBA 2K25, as were Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson, and future NBA Hall-of-Famer Vince Carter.

In getting to test the game for a few hours (shoutout to the team at NBA 2K!), it's easy to see that it's been redefined, from the gameplay down to the graphics. Dribbling and shooting mechanics have been completely transformed, while animations from the revamped ProPLAY have made this game incredibly authentic.

NBA 2K added a whopping 9,000 new ProPLAY animations, which took real world NBA footage and implemented into the video game, making it as realistic as it's ever been. Among those 9,000 animations are 1,500 dribbling animations, 1,100 signature shot animations, and over 1,300 new off-the-ball animations.

Simply put, this game is in a league of its own.

Ronnie 2K spoke with ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview about the all-new NBA 2K25, set to officially release on September 6th. We spoke about some of the biggest changes to this year's edition of the game, including gameplay, animations, cover athletes, and how the franchise has opened its doors to even more players than ever before.

Ronnie 2K NBA 2K25 interview

Tomer Azarly: You've been a busy man of late. How is everything going with you and NBA 2K25 here?

Ronnie 2K: Yeah, I'm great. I have been busy. I got back from St. Louis, we opened up a court with our cover star, Jayson Tatum, a couple days ago. It was super dope. So yeah, this is always a day we're always excited for this day because we hold the content so closely to the heart because our Development Team is so proud of it and then we get to this day and get to show it to hundreds of the people that have earned it over the years. It's awesome. It's always great.

TA: There are a lot of changes to this game, but Where do you start with this game when you step back and look at it? What's the biggest thing that you're looking forward to in this game?

Ronnie 2K: I think it always starts with gameplay. A lot of the feedback that we've gotten from the videos, really the gameplay videos over the sizzle videos is like the motion with dribbling. It's totally different. A lot of it comes from us being in the second year of ProPLAY and being able to have a lot more signature data. We added 9,000 animations, 1,000 each to dribbling and shooting.

Take Jamal Murray, for example, right? Like his shot has been fixed. He's never come in for motion capture, so it was hard to get. It was an actor doing his shot. But with ProPLAY, we're able to get it. In his case, he had the torn ACL and then COVID and then it was like one thing after another where we had never gotten any data. It was not his fault, not our fault. But then to have a full season of his data is a big reason why that's changed. So I just think that year two leap in ProPLAY is huge.

The thing that I'm most excited about with gameplay that isn't getting talked about enough is the risk reward option on shooting. The fact is that we have amazing competitive players, we have people that are really good at the game, but then we have this new generation that wants to play 2K. How do you like kind of deal with that divide? This is, I think, a great solution for that. Like if you're really good at the game, you put on the high risk, high reward setting.

TA: Break that down for me, if you could. What does that do? What does that allow for new players?

Ronnie 2K: It changes stuff with the green meter. It also like gives you a little bit more forgiveness with where your shot release is. It's like a variety of things. But ultimately, the payoff is if you're really good and you can really get a lot of greens naturally, use the ‘high risk, high reward' option, you'll get rewarded. But if you need to work on a shot timer or you're not as familiar with a shot timer because you're playing ‘Play Now' or what have you, then that's the difference.

TA: So I want to touch on the new Learn 2K option. From an accessibility standpoint, it seems like it just gives everyone the ability to learn to play the game at their pace.

Ronnie 2K: “Yeah, like I said with the whole risk-reward thing, right? We need to balance our audience in terms of the people that love our game, play it for hours on end, and then the new consumer and making sure it's an enjoyable experience for both. I think Learn 2K is our biggest advancement in that because, yeah, you can go in and become as advanced as you want to be and get really good with things that are maybe more challenging to really be an expert at. And it's on purpose. Like, we want to reward you for being really good at our game and being a competitive player. So Learn 2K is the road to be able to do that.

TA: The big mode for me personally is MyTeam and I see you guys introduced the Triple Threat Park. What made you guys want to go that route with it?

Ronnie 2K: I think it's like the ability to play with NBA players in kind of like a park environment, I think that's something our community has wanted for a while. NBA players can get onto MyTeam courts and you can play MyTeam cards, 3-on-3, in what was the old traditional courts, right? So like, Rivet City, you saw that yesterday. It's really awesome. It's something that people have asked for. I have such good, fun feelings for like All-Star Team-Up. It's similar to that, it's gonna, yeah. So it's something that other communities wanted, but like, wanted it in a different way and we give it to them in a way that like, maybe they didn't even see coming, but that they're really gonna love.

TA: What's the biggest difference this year with MyPlayer? I see the new Takeover system that you guys have as well, what's the biggest difference with that?

Ronnie 2K: MyPlayers also, like, making a build, which we've made easier, right? Like the whole template system and the community builds. But it's not for everyone. There are people that don't want to go through making signature animations and what not, but they do want to play park games. So what's the best way to do that? You let my team cards go in and play NBA players on the park. And then you don't have to build community builds. You can play with Kevin Durant in the park, which is kind of awesome. So I'm really excited to see that come to life.

TA: With MyTeam, I think you guys made a big, bold move last year removing the Auction House and replacing it with the Player Market. What was the feedback and why did you guys decide to go back to the Auction House so quickly just one year later?

Ronnie 2K: Well, a big reason we decided to go back to it was because everybody, collectively, saw it as a popular thing and that the community was asking for it to come back. Look, I mean, when you've been around for 26 years, you're going to have to try stuff. And, you know, our solution to that mechanism was what it was in NBA 2K24, and we believed in it. And it worked in some ways and it wasn't popular in some other ways. So we felt like the best decision was to bring it back better than ever.

TA: Biggest topic for everyone around these times is ratings and players overalls. What went into that rating system and how difficult was it to rate the top 10 players especially?

Ronnie 2K: I will tell you one thing. You know why I'm having a hard time remembering [the top 10 order]? It's because the level of talent, that upper tier is nuts. And it's so hard because you could make a case for any of those, maybe even any of the top 11 guys, you could make a case that they could be number one. I'm not even kidding. You could make a case for it. But I know we got it right because we always do. But, yeah, it's always a point of contention and that's what's kind of fun about the ratings.

TA: Were all the players informed of their ratings before the final drop on Monday?

Ronnie 2K: Nope. I was gonna tell Tatum [last] Monday and I'm like, ‘I don't know how he's gonna feel so I'm gonna focus on the philanthropy today' and we'll get to the rating when we get to the rating. I'm gonna hear about it from him. I'm sure I know I am. He won a championship, but he's got a chip on his shoulder about you know, and then he's rated the same as LeBron and Steph. That's gonna be interesting.

TA: Speaking of Jayson Tatum, how'd you guys decide on him as the cover athlete for NBA 2K25?

Ronnie 2K: Yeah, the cover athlete is really picked in in my mind and always has been in three ways.

Number one, are they authentic to our brand and do they play our game? I actually released this video when we announced Jayson of like how we kind of built this road to the cover since his rookie year. Him and I have worked together a ton and I've seen him play the game. He's great at it. He loves the game. It meant a lot to him as a kid. He talked about it every single time, it was the continuous like joy that 2k brought him and that's authentic. You can't teach that, so that's number one.

Number two is trajectory. We don't make the cover, we don't figure out the cover in June, right? It's he won the championship, but we haven't had a championship cover star since I believe Steph Curry in 2K16, so it's been a while. So everybody, consumers are always like, ‘put the Finals MVP on there.' It doesn't really work that way, but we believed in what he was gonna do last year and we definitely believe in what he's gonna do this year. So the trajectory is there.

And then finally for number three, it's about how we build either the game or what the story we're trying to tell is with marketing. That's a big one for us. So he really aligned with some of the things that we haven't shown yet and we were going to show. Also, and and then just what we're doing with marketing. ‘Ball Over Everything.' He really aligns with that catch phrase.

TA: A'ja Wilson is also a cover athlete for NBA 2K25. Talk to me about the women's game and why her?

Ronnie 2K: Yeah, A'ja. I mean, it's probably long overdue. I remember fouling her really hard in the NBA or 2019 celebrity game and that was the beginning of a interesting friendship where she you know trash talks me every year about not being on the cover. Well, the time has come. It's long overdue. She is the face of the WNBA and she's amazing and so it's really excited to finally have her represent and then everything that she's had going on is amazing. Like, what a time to align and obviously with the development of the W this past year taking it to another level. It was it's a great year to align with her, the first 99 W player we've ever had so that I mean everything is coming up A'ja.

TA: Vince Carter is the cover of the Hall-of-Fame edition of NBA 2k25. How'd you guys close in on him?

Ronnie 2K: With Vince obviously, he will be coronated [into the Hall-of-Fame] in a couple months, but I've always wanted to work with Vince and like he is such a joy to be around. I've known him actually, a little bit because I'm really close with [Tracy McGrady] and they are cousins, so getting to work with Vince is amazing. It's actually one of my favorite covers. That whole gold post, the way that works is super cool.

TA: How have people reacted to the inclusion and depth of the WNBA's addition to NBA 2K25?

Ronnie 2K: Yeah I mean they loved it. The Forest Park, the three-on-three thing that we have in there is like was extremely well received and so it's gonna continue to evolve. It's a movement for us to celebrate the leagues equally and as equal as we can. The league is coming a big way, but we were early on it too right like we've had female cover stars for several years and we really believed in what the W's been moving towards and can't wait for it to continue to grow.

TA: I played with Caitlin Clark for a little bit here in NBA 2K25 and she's already got the range, the handles, everything. What was it like incorporating her into that game?

Ronnie 2K: It's kind of like incorporating Steph in a way right? Like we have to figure out how we're gonna deal with the whole you can shoot from 40 pretty consistently. But Caitlin's I mean the sky's the limit for her, so she's gonna be something we're gonna have to definitely think about in future 2Ks as she as her game continues to develop.

TA: When we talked last I think you said you believed Suns star Devin Booker had overtaken Paul George as the best NBA player at NBA 2K?

Ronnie 2K: Ugh, I still struggle with that.

TA: So where are we at right now with that?

Ronnie 2K: I did beat both of them last year so both of them. Yeah, I know I beat PG in 2K24, I played with Booker in 2K23. Who have I seen recently play? I don't know. It's probably still one of those guys, but we need to run that ESPN Players Tournament back, That's what I know.

TA: That was fun. Where are you with that?

Ronnie 2K: I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm gonna get NBA players back playing, just gotta figure out who the best one is because I can't say PG for the rest of my rest of my career.

TA: I mean, you can!

Ronnie 2K: He's pretty good. He is pretty good.

TA: Speaking of Paul, he made a pretty big move this offseason. What did you think about him leaving the Clippers for the Sixers, joining Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid?

Ronnie 2K: I think that team is really interesting. Tyrese has changed his body. Embiid, you know ‘The Process' is eventually gonna play out, maybe this is the one. I think he just fits in really nicely. It's gonna be about depth, it's gonna be about health, but I think they come out of the East. I do, which is controversial because, you know, our cover star is on one of the other Eastern Conference teams, but…

TA: You're just gonna make someone mad regardless.

Ronnie 2K: Yeah, Jayson Tatum is definitely hitting me up after this interview, for sure.

TA: We saw a coming out party for Devin Booker. We knew it was good, but the Olympics, he really made a name for himself as that role player.

Ronnie 2K: Yeah, like, that was, I think, the surprising thing, because it's not… It's kind of like playing in Pro-Am games in 2K, right? Like, everybody wants to be the alpha, they want to be the primary scorer. It's hard for a primary scorer to, like, go role-play, but he was a great distributor and it earned him a lot of playing time, and, you know, I think Devin was really this unheralded star of the Olympic run.

NBA 2K25 comes out everywhere September 6th, but is available a few days earlier if you pre-order the game.