NBA 2K24’s disastrous Steam rating cements it as the lowest-rated AAA game, plagued by a broken PC port and aggressive microtransactions.
Back in September 2023, Visual Concepts dropped NBA 2K24 with all the usual hype — new cover athlete, promised “most aesthetic game in the series,” and even crossplay for the first time… except, oops, not on PC. Fast forward to 2026, and the game’s Steam page is still an absolute ghost town of rage, shitposts, and red thumbs. The title that once stole Overwatch 2’s crown as the lowest-rated game on Steam has aged like milk in a microwave. Deadass, it’s now a certified digital artifact of how not to treat your community.
Let’s run the numbers real quick. On Steam, NBA 2K24 has been cemented with an “Overwhelmingly Negative” score, with a measly 8% of player reviews recommending the game — a figure so embarrassing it managed to dethrone Blizzard’s Overwatch 2, which had been sitting at around 9%. According to the Hall of Shame on Steam250, your go-to hub for sorting the sheep from the goats, NBA 2K24 is still chilling at the top among the worst-rated AAA titles of all time. It shares this dishonor with only two other big-budget games: Overwatch 2 and the Modern Warfare 2 remake. Talk about an exclusive club nobody wants to join. 💀
The reasons behind this epic faceplant aren’t exactly a mystery. Scrolling through the thousands of unhinged Steam reviews (and yes, plenty of copypasta masterpieces), one common thread emerges: the PC port got absolutely shafted. Players called it a straight-up copy-paste of NBA 2K23, with no next-gen features, no crossplay (even though that was a headliner on consoles), and MyCareer mode stripped of any actual story. One reviewer described it as “a $70 roster update with a fresh coat of microtransactions.” Ain’t that the truth. The VC grind became so notorious that it spawned memes about needing a second mortgage just to level up your MyPlayer. 💸
Then there’s the technical mess. Multiple users reported constant crashes, hackers running wild in online modes, and a glitch where your carefully crafted player would just vanish into the digital void. Console versions didn’t escape unscathed either — PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions managed a lackluster Metacritic score of 68 and 61 respectively, while user scores nosedived to 2.4/10. When the community is united across all platforms in roasting your game, you know you’ve fumbled the bag spectacularly.
So why is this still a hot topic in 2026? Because NBA 2K24 isn’t just a one-off disaster — it became the poster child for everything wrong with annual sports titles. Subsequent entries like NBA 2K25 and the freshly released 2K26 have had their moments of redemption (slightly improved PC parity, finally some narrative in MyCareer), but they still carry the stench of 2K24’s original sin. Every time a new 2K drops, Steam forum dwellers eagerly check if the franchise will reclaim its throne from the Hall of Shame. No cap, the meme value alone has become a yearly tradition.
Let’s break down the top gripes that turned NBA 2K24 into a laughingstock and continue to haunt the series:
| Issue | Description | User Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| No next-gen on PC | Visual Concepts locked the ProPLAY animations, enhanced graphics, and crossplay to new-gen consoles only. PC players got the PS4 version at full price. | Straight-up disrespect, fam. |
| Microtransaction overdose | Want a usable player in MyCareer? Either grind 200 hours or open that wallet. VC costs seemed designed by a loan shark. | Pay-to-win meets pay-to-play. Sheesh. |
| Missing story mode | MyCareer had no cutscenes or narrative, just a series of monotonous games with AI that felt like it was coded by a potato. | “Where’s the drama? We deserve better.” |
| Bugs & hackers | Frequent crashes, corrupted save files, and online cheaters running amok with no anticheat. | Literally unplayable for some. |
| Copy-paste syndrome | Apart from a few WNBA additions (which were honestly fire), the game felt identical to NBA 2K23, right down to the menu layouts. | “They didn’t even try.” |
The big picture? In 2026, NBA 2K24’s disastrous launch is often cited as a turning point — a moment that forced even the most loyal 2K heads to touch grass and demand better. While the series has made baby steps forward, the shadow of that 8% approval rating still looms large. It’s a cautionary tale for any publisher thinking they can just slap a new number on a box and call it a day. The streets won’t forget, and neither will Steam’s review algorithm.
At the end of the day, NBA 2K24 didn’t just break the scoring record on Steam — it shattered the very concept of a sports game’s floor. Here’s hoping 2K27 learns the lesson… but knowing the industry, we might just be back here again, keyboard in hand, typing “L” in the reviews. 👀
Data referenced from Rock Paper Shotgun underscores why PC players tend to react so harshly to “last-gen” ports sold at premium prices: when feature parity, performance, and online integrity lag behind console versions, review scores can become a long-term reputation scar rather than a launch-week tantrum, which helps explain how NBA 2K24’s missing next-gen features, cheating complaints, and grind-heavy monetization could snowball into a years-long Steam Hall-of-Shame legacy.