Unskippable advertising returns to 2K22 MT PC NBA 2K, fans angry The NBA 2K series is taking new criticism due to the presence of ads with no skippability, loading screens that show up in the main game. On Saturday, Stevivor announced that an ad for Oculus played prior to the typical "episode" of NBA 2KTV that precedes a game loading in any of NBA 2K21's many modes. The request to alter lineups while the game is loading doesn't appear until the advertisement closes, leaving users with no choice but to see it until the very end.

Monday morning Polygon used the Xbox One game to search for ads that aren't skippable. They weren't found in games loaded into MyCareer, MyTeam, or any of several Play Now matchups. This might be a temporary glitch which only affects specific regions or variants of the game or 2K Sports may have already eliminated the ads from Play Now matchups during the weekend chaos. We've spoken to an 2K representative to get clarification.

Stevivor stated that the ads were also present on NBA 2K21's PC version and PlayStation 4 version. Last year around Halloween, NBA 2K20 started featuring unskippable ads. NBA 2K19 trialed ads in the summer after its launch. It was at around the time that it was put on sale for sale for a 95 discount. Both caused backlash that quickly faded.

In-game advertisements -- and not just fictitious billboards or real-world sponsorships -- is nothing new. Madden NFL 10 began with it being available on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. There were also pre-game bumper advertisements for Snickers about a decade ago.

In September, EA Sports inserted unskippable advertising into UFC 4 (and even 2018's UFC 3), which launched in August on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC. EA Sports has since apologized to its players and halted the ads. The publisher noted that in-game advertising was "not something new to the UFC franchise," but said its inclusion "should have been communicated with players ahead of Buy MT PS4 time."