Donohue believes the NBA 2K League's growth in partnership is due to NBA2king an amalgamation of companies that see esports as an emerging market and an increase in the amount of engagement from fans. I believe that this was already happening, and the increased fan engagement just fuels the fire. It was because every brand we talked with about partnerships realized they need to get involved in esports . They are just trying to determine what that is.
However, for businesses there is a risk in jumping into an emerging field like esports as a former Golden State Warrior and well-known tech entrepreneurs Andre Iguodala once called "the Wild Wild West". In the case of the NBA it was a risk that was worth taking.
Donohue declares, "It's in 2K's DNA to be innovating." He also explains that NBA owners "realize that the future will be bright - this will only continue to increase. In my opinion, there could have been more danger in not doing it rather than taking the initiative."
There are fears that esports may be marginal ideas that only attract players who are hardcore but with little commercial value beyond that have been proven to be untrue. Forbes published last year that esports revenues worldwide were expected to Buy MT NBA 2K22 PS4 be in excess of $1.1bn in 2019.
"Even during the last 3 years, all three seasons, the conversations I have now are very different from what they were before the league began because it's just more it's become more normal, and it's not such a strange thing;" Donohue emphasizes. Kirk Lacob, Warriors Assistant General Manager, recently told me that esports was "absolutely getting more mature".
