Unskippable loading-screen ads that appear in MT 2K22 NBA 2K are causing a backlash.This past weekend, Stevivor posted that an ad for Oculus played prior to the typical "episode" of NBA 2KTV that is shown before the loading of a game in any of NBA 2K21's various modes. The players are required to watch the entire advertisementsince they aren't prompted to alter their lineups while the loading of the game.
On Monday morning, Polygon tried to find the ads that were not skippable playing the game using the Xbox One. We didn't see them in games that were loaded in MyCareer, MyTeam, or any of the Play Now matchups. This could only be affecting specific versions or regions, or that 2K Sports already nixed the ads during the weekend's controversy. To clarify we contacted 2K representatives.
Stevivor stated that the ads were also being played on NBA 2K21's PC and PlayStation 4 versions. NBA 2K20 started showing unskippable ads in the last week of Halloween. They were added in NBA 2K19 in the summer, shortly after the game's launch. Both games caused backlashes, which quickly disappeared.
It's not uncommon to see advertisements in game, and it's not only fake billboards or real-life sponsors. Madden NFL 10 started with it on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that included pre-game advertisements to promote Snickers more than 10 years before.
EA Sports introduced unskippable advertisements into UFC 4 (and 2018's UFC 3) in September. The UFC 4 launch was on August 4th, on Buy 2K22 MT Xbox One and Windows PC. EA Sports later apologized to its users and disabled all ads.
