Take-Two says NFL 2K revival failed, MLB 2K return unlikely

Take-Two’s message is blunt: the 2K sports label is not a museum, and not every old franchise gets a second life. NFL 2K did not make it back, MLB 2K looks even less likely to return, and the company’s recent moves point to one clear favorite in the portfolio, NBA 2K.

That matters because the NFL comeback was not some loose rumor. Take-Two publicly announced a multi-year partnership with the NFL and NFLPA in 2020 for non-simulation football games, and Strauss Zelnick later said the project never came together creatively and stopped moving forward. The failure says a lot about how hard it is to restart a dormant sports brand in a market where licensing, development, and player expectations have all changed. Nostalgia can start the conversation, but it does not guarantee a playable product that can compete.

Baseball faces an even steeper climb. MLB 2K ended in 2013, so a revival would not be a sequel in any practical sense. It would be a full reset, with all the pressure that comes from returning to a league after years away. For Take-Two, that makes MLB 2K look more like a long-shot experiment than a near-term business priority.

The basketball side tells a very different story. In June 2025, the NBA, NBPA and 2K agreed in principle to a new multiyear global partnership expansion, and the deal also extended 2K’s relationships with the NBA G League and USA Basketball. Then, on Nov. 3, 2025, NBA Take-Two Media announced the relaunched NBA 2K League. The league first launched in 2018 as a professional esports venture co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, and its return showed that basketball is still where the publisher sees room to build.

The money trail backs that up. Take-Two’s earnings materials have repeatedly pointed to NBA 2K as a major contributor to recurrent consumer spending and net bookings, and the company said net bookings grew 33% in fiscal Q2 2026, with NBA 2K among the largest drivers. That is the key takeaway for NBA 2K players: Take-Two is not spreading itself thin chasing every dormant sports name. It is doubling down where the business already works, which likely means more attention on the annual basketball cycle, online ecosystems, mode support, and the kind of live-service structure that keeps NBA 2K at the center of the 2K brand.