NBA 2K21 for next-gen platforms just got its first big update to fix some major community issues. Having problems with framerates while walking around the City? Has your Badge progression suddenly stopped? Saturday’s update goes a long way toward solving these problems while leaving other flaws wide open. Read the full list of changes courtesy of the latest Courtside Report blog post.
NBA 2K21 Next-Gen update 1 patch notes
Visual Concepts/2K Sports
- Improvements to both male and female face scans using the MyNBA2K mobile app
- Multiple improvements to hair, headbands, hats, and other accessories on created players
- Official sponsor logo has been added to the San Antonio Spurs uniform (these have official unveil dates by the NBA, we will update as permitted)
- Likenesses have been updated for the following players/coaches:
- Paul George
- Andrew Wiggins
- Nikola Jokic
- Jordan Clarkson
- Naz Reid
- Stephon Marbury
- Dwight Howard
- Frank Vogel
- Dejounte Murray
- Robert Williams
- Theo Pinson
- Ky Bowman
- Jeff Hornacek
- Daequan Cook
- Sam Perkins
- Jerome Kersey
- Buck Williams
- Luc Longley
- Nate Bjorkgren
- Asante Munson
- Improved fidelity on jumbotron in the Houston Rockets arena
- Addressed reported stability issues with 2KTV
Gameplay
- Enabled Coach Settings, System Proficiency, Assign Plays, and CPU/User Slider menus in the pause menu of Quick Play games
- Corrected the facing of the defensive player on certain block animations
- Improved behavior of coaching staff heading to the arena tunnel in certain classic team arenas
- Improved spacing and behavior for both players and coaches in huddle situations
- Corrected an issue with a particular jump ball configuration that wasn’t lined up properly with the center of the court
- Fixed a rare issue where the wrong replay was shown during an official review of a charging foul
- Changed camera angles so they no longer clip through coaches and players during certain timeout sequences
- Improved players picking up the ball on inbound plays
The City
- Performance improvements during City gameplay, centered around reports from the community. More optimizations coming
- New Black Lives Matter masks now available at Swags
- Fixed an issue with Jump Shot Creator where the release speed would not save correctly when attempting to edit a previously created shot
- Even faster load times when accepting invites to the City from various areas of the game
- Improved stability in Garage Hoops and Gatorade Rental Court games
- Win Streaks will now properly track at the end of City games
- Addressed various camera warping/clipping issues when near buildings and other objects while riding some vehicles in the City
- The camera will now function properly for all drills in the Gatorade Training Facility when accessed via the Team Practice Facility
- The game will no longer hang after purchasing boosts and immediately entering another store
MyCAREER
- Fixed a hang when trying to enter the private workout leading into the Draft. Saves that had previously run into this issue will also now be able to continue
- Commentary will no longer drop out during occasional stretches in MyCAREER playoff games and after timeouts
- Empty social media messages will no longer appear on the landing menu during the draft portion of The Long Shadow
- On-court accessories will no longer appear in certain endorsement images
- VC balance will no longer have a delay when collecting earnings in the Endorsement menu
- Fixed a rare soft hang in Live Practice on the recap screen when all badges had been maxed out
- Game Goals in the college portion of the story related to blocks can now be completed correctly
- Addressed an issue where attribute prices could show up as negative numbers
The W
- Made a number of improvements to smooth out the beginning of the W Online experience
- Addressed a disconnect that could occur at the end of W Online games if a tier upgrade had been earned during gameplay
- Fixed a rare hang that would occur when attempting to edit your MyPLAYER’s appearance
MyNBA
- Resolved an issue with downloading user-created expansion teams during the creation flow
- Addressed some rare stability issues when loading into a MyNBA Online save file
- Fixed a hang in MyNBA when simulating through multiple games via Simcast with a season length of 14 games
- Fixed a hang that would occur when using certain custom league setups in MyNBA
- Multiple other stability improvements and changes to improve the overall experience
MyTEAM
- Your MyPLAYER card will now have the correct overall rating
- Disabled playcalling in Triple Threat mode, which led to various issues
- Multiple other stability improvements and changes to improve the overall experience
NBA 2K21 next-gen has only been in the wild for a few days, but its developers at Visual Concepts were quick to address the community’s most pressing issues. Chief among them was the bizarre lack of sliders in Quick Play, poor system performance in MyCareer and bugs with the Jump Shot Creator. It’s also good to know likenesses for the league’s biggest players like Paul Geoarge, Dwight Howard and Nikola Jokic have been adjusted too. For as awesome as the game’s updated visuals are, it was a bit of an eyesore to notice some of these top ballers not sporting their current look.
Moving on to the smaller fixes that are both listed and not listed in these patch notes, many users reported instances of lost Badge progression and MyPoints that have since been addressed. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean you’ll magically accrue all the progress you’ve been grinding for since launch, but at least what you accomplish going forward will be fully accounted for across all modes. As for what’s not quite fixed yet, the City still looks pretty dead even if the framerate has improved. Right now there’s so much to do in the hub that much of the areas are vacant. Dribbling also feels clunkier than usual as well. There’s obviously a lot of work still left to be done to stabilize this game, but Patch 1 is a solid step in the right direction for a great next-gen experience.
NBA 2K21 is available now on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
What do you think of NBA 2K21 next-gen so far? Does the Patch 1 update fix your biggest problems? Tell us in the comments section!
