A new hoopster has been announced to grace the cover of NBA 2K14. Love him or hate him, LeBron James, one of the wide world of sports’ most polarizing figures, earned the right to appear on the video game cover after leading the Miami Heat to their second NBA finals appearance in as many years as well as the league’s second best 27-game win streak. It could bode well for Boston sports fans everywhere as video game cover appearance usually equate to subsequently cursed careers.
NBA 2K14 is expected to be released on contemporary gaming consoles October 1 and pre-orders are available right now. According to USA Today, the launch date for much-anticipated next-generation consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is still to be determined. “Jason Argent, senior vice president of sports operations for 2K Sports, said playing 2K14 on current- and next-generation platforms would be ‘independent experiences.'”
Gaming publisher 2K could be on to something big as the past three versions of NBA 2K have sold at least 5 million copies per year. With a couple of headliner consoles to be made available in the near future and with LeBron currently vying for his second NBA title against a stout San Antonio Spurs team that handed him a loss in Game 1 of the series held in Miami, this could be the best selling NBA 2K version to date.
Also, those who pre-order 2K14 will be afforded access to the “King James Bonus Pack,” which includes 10,000 worth of virtual currency concurrent with the series, extra content on the “Path to Greatness” feature, James’s player unlocked in “Blacktop” mode, and an all-new James signature move–if you’re into that kind of thing.
Surprisingly, this is LeBron’s first video game cover as one might figure an athlete of his stature and caliber would’ve already elbowed his way onto game covers the way he did with the Miami franchise after jumping ship in Cleveland in search of a championship he failed to bring to his hometown.
No word yet on price for NBA 2K14 though the release date is slated for October 1 with pre-orders available now.
Check out the trailer for NBA 2K14 featuring LeBron James on the cover:
