The much-maligned Park After Dark mode for NBA 2K17 will be making its return on Feb. 25 at 11 pm ET/ 8 pm PT. The add-on to NBA 2K’s myPark mode will have DJ Premier as its third guest DJ, following in the footsteps of Snoop Dogg and Future.
This upcoming Park After Dark seems somewhat dubious considering the timing of the event. For the first two events, it seemed as if 2K put some marketing muscle behind those events, announcing the events ahead of time (Snoop’s about a month out and Future’s about two weeks). The upcoming DJ Premier Park After Dark was announced with just three days notice for players to get ready for it.
The reviews to Park After Dark has been mixed at best. The initial offering in November was universally panned as 2K’s servers did not expect the amount of players that jumped on during the event. The result was massive lag times and players not being able to check into games due to server issues on 2K’s end. The second edition of Park After Dark was better as many of the initial issues from the first Park After Dark did not affect as many players. With that said, many of the same nagging issues continued to plague the mode and turn other players off towards the event even more.
With the announcement of the latest Park After Dark, many 2K players couldn't help but make their opinions heard:
Already in line pic.twitter.com/ydaLHE9bnu
— depressed Wolves fan (@MVPeterson03) February 22, 2017
Being that this is 2K’s third attempt at Park After Dark, fans expect 2K has figured out how to make this mode work. Park After Dark is ambitious as the guest DJs, the club-like atmosphere of the street courts and the overall feel of the mode is something that has really never been seen in sports games. It is now up to 2K to makes sure that Park After has a future beyond NBA 2K17 because, at least when it’s working, Park After Dark has a place in the sports gaming landscape.
