2K Games releasing NBA 2K18 on the Nintendo Switch has not gone over so well. While the digital version is available for release alongside the PS4, PC and Xbox One version, you’ll have to wait until a later date to buy a physical version of the game. Not only that, but the digital version appears to be riddled with issues.
Multiple outlets are reporting having problems with NBA 2K18, including editor-in-chief Kat Bailey from US Gamer, who lamented the issues of the Switch version across a couple of tweets.
So here’s a thing that happened in #nba2k Switch: Players suddenly vanish and ball bounces slowly to end of court. Then it crashes.
— Kat Bailey (@The_Katbot) September 16, 2017
Another thing that happened in #nba2k18 Switch: Save data corrupted. Maybe that was my new SD card though?
— Kat Bailey (@The_Katbot) September 16, 2017
Disappearing players is one thing, but saved data becoming corrupted is a huge issue.
This Gen Gaming decided to roll out a list of the game’s problems, which include:
- Data being wiped
- Crashes
- Audio cutting out during cutscenes
- Cutscenes lagging
- Cutscenes skipping
- Framerate drops outside of gameplay
Surprisingly, they don’t list the players disappearing on the court that Bailey ran into during the playthrough on the Switch.
This isn’t being yelled from the mountaintops into an empty void; 2K is listening.
The support team on Twitter acknowledged some of the issues that Switch owners have been having, and responded accordingly.
Hey folks, we’re still looking into the crashes and data loss with #NBA2K18 and will hopefully have a fix soon. Thanks for your patience.
— 2K Support (@2KSupport) September 15, 2017
PC gamers have also been widely criticizing the game for microtransactions, crashes and other technical hiccups so it’s not only Switch owners suffering the problems with NBA 2K18 but they are suffering the brunt of the issues.
Hopefully this isn’t indicative of a third-party trend from AAA publishers for Nintendo Switch ports. The last thing Nintendo (and especially consumers) need are lazy ports from piss-poor programmers who are technically less efficient at their jobs than eunuch pornstars.