2K Games had hardly anything to show at E3 2018. In fact, they had so little to show that their booth had exactly zero games on display. Instead, it wound up playing the role of a rest area for journalists and industry types to get quick respite from the hustle and bustle of gaming’s most famous trade show. While it was certainly nice at the time for those who needed to take a break, 2KÂ isn’t planning on letting this happen again. They have some big expansion plans in the works, and they’re finally ready to talk about them.
Very few people attending E3 are going to be willing to spend time looking at the newest NBA 2K or WWE 2K game. 2K Games’ David Ismailer practically said as much during an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. After acknowledging that though, Ismailer got right into what 2K Games is going to do in order to make sure they always have more to show than their annual sports series. In a word, they’re going to grow.
While talking to GamesIndustry.biz, Ismailer laid out three pillars that the publisher will be following moving forward. The first can be summed up as “more games.” It’s basically just what it sounds like, 2K is planning to create many more games than before. The second pillar is found in their desire to create new internal studios and find new external partners. The last pillar of their expansion more or less sounds like an increased emphasis upon the Games as a Service business model. Nothing was said about microtransactions, just that Ismailer wants 2K’s games to be ever-changing experiences complete with special events and the like.
When time came to talk specifics, Ismailer had a few interesting tidbits to mention. Among these was an acknowledgement that Firaxis is now working on a new IP in addition to XCOM and Civilization. He also mentioned that the WWE series will be seeing quite a bit more investment moving forward. Finally, Ismailer noted that 2K is open to working in new gaming genres they haven’t explored yet; however, they won’t be doing so willy-nilly. Ismailer stated that doing so would depend more on the individual studios they’re looking and what they want to do rather than a simple desire on the part of 2K to publish a new kind of game.
2K Games appears to be ready to take their game to the next level. Hopefully their arrival will be something to celebrate rather than lament.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
