NBA 2K21 Release Date For PS5 And Xbox Series X Confirmed

NBA 2K21's next-generation edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X now has a release date. 2K Sports has confirmed that the next-gen edition will begin its rollout on November 10 as a launch title for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. There is a catch, however, as you won't be able to upgrade as simply as you can for some other games. That next-gen sweat is going to cost you a pretty penny.

The professional basketball game will then arrive for the PS5 as a launch title on November 12 in the console's launch markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. The game will then arrive in other markets around the world on November 19 when the console is released in those places. You can see the first NBA 2K21 gameplay on PS5 and Xbox Series X now--it's quite impressive.

NBA 2K21's next-gen version is a new edition of the game "built from the ground up" for those consoles. Because of that, there is no cross-gen multiplayer support. The game costs $10 more on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and Take-Two's CEO has defended the price increase.

2K has only provided the briefest of snippets of NBA 2K21 for PS5, but what we saw was extremely impressive and the load times were basically non-existent. 2K has yet to provide a full rundown of what the next-gen edition of NBA 2K21 is all about, however. One thing we do know is that the next-gen version will have a much bigger soundtrack, with over 200 songs featured. The players also certainly look sweaty. They're perhaps a little too sweaty.

NBA 2K21's PS4 and Xbox One edition, which launched in early September, will be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X through backwards compatibility. It's an option that will let you keep playing if you choose to ditch your older systems completely. This will not, however, come with the upgrades of the new consoles. There also isn't an easy way to pay for these upgrades. People who want to upgrade from the current-gen edition to next-gen must buy the $100 Mamba Forever edition.

GameSpot's review of NBA 2K21 for PS4/Xbox One scored the game a 6/10. "NBA 2K21 shows that the lone basketball sim we have now has largely stagnated. It's a full package, for sure, but one that demonstrates little-to-no motivation to meaningfully improve upon itself," reviewer Michael Higham said.

The next-gen launch will have a few different sports games for players to choose from. EA will launch FIFA 21 and Madden 21 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, too, both of which will be available as a free upgrade for owners of the PS4/Xbox One versions.