As the government’s official Twitter account tweeted: “What mode are you guys running at The Theater right now?” and those answers undoubtedly deserve that other “eye-twinkle” moment for NBA 2K culture. Most probably expected some petty comments about “I’m running 2v2 or whatever.” But within minutes, the thread became a huge avenue for everyone to vent out their frustrations on a singular topic, with an almost unified front from end to end on this specific issue.
Essentially, what pops up in almost every proclamation-wail? SBMM. Skill-based matchmaking. It is almost in every other reply. Players object that it ruins the Theater experience. One Oliver declared, without any hesitation, “Remove SBMM from theatre, ruining the game mode.” And he’s not alone, meaning really, those are just different ways of saying “fix your game” and “remove SBMM.” It just takes over.
Then Trillaisdead commented: “Stop doing quick game and casual court in 3v3 nobody wants that shit,” which again shows very strong opinion about available modes. But SBMM is that big new thing. Another player, Quash, just said something simple: “Nothing cause of SBMM.” Like, they’re not even playing because of it. That’s a problem.
Other than that, there is of course… locker code spam. LOL. The amount of people screaming for more new locker codes is pretty hilarious. The official account asks about game modes, and about half the replies go: “DROP ANOTHER CODE” or “we don’t care ab that” (in reference to the original question). It’s like two completely different conversations happening at once. One group is trying to talk about gameplay, the other just wants free stuff. Classic gaming-community moment.
And some of these complaints go deep. Cali(sta) reports a bug where crew games don’t count correctly in The Theater― they’ve played 40+ games, but it’s stuck at 18. Annoying. Meanwhile, Carlitos Brigante was having difficulty buying custom Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoes after designing them in the store. Just those stupid little annoying things from the nitty-gritty perspective of the players.
Wait, what was I saying again? Oh yes. While it’s supposed to provide the venue for fun, laid-back casual basketball sessions in NBA 2K, The Theater seems to be bogged down by a matchmaking system that many consider too strict. Players with a rep higher than that of TristianGotClipz even joked about their rep levels keeping them from getting a game. Low Profile said they have to wait “1 hour to play cause of SBMM.” An hour! That is insane.
However, there is one glimmer of positivity among the complaints. AllThingsCapitol says, “And 1 was a pretty chill experience. Good runs.” So obviously, it’s not all terrible. The overwhelming response is that skill-based matchmaking turns it into a try-hard environment where casual fun is dropped like a hot potato.
This whole thing really draws attention to the never-ending fight that game developers have. On one side, you have to protect newer or less skilled players from stomping by pros. On the other, you cannot make the game so competitive that fun is taken away from everyone. Based on these tweets, NBA 2K seems like it may have leaned too hard in the competitive direction for The Theater mode.
And I mean, it is funny to see how people present these things. There are lots of shorthands and insider jargon. “SBMM” just sits in there like everybody knows what it stands for. There’s mention of “Purple” rep. There’s also “rim runners” and “middy faders.” It’s like its very own little language. But the one message that filters through to all of that is that the current system is not working for a large percentage of the player base.
At the end of the day, when the official game account asks a “What’s up?” question and receives hundreds of responses echoing some variant of “Fix your game,” it’s probably a sign that something actually needs to be looked into. Whether that means adjusting the matchmaking parameters or maybe adding a truly casual playlist without any SBMM, players are clearly pleading for some kind of change. It’ll be interesting to see if 2K actually takes that feedback into account in an upcoming patch or will these complaints just continue piling up in every reply to tweets they put out. They have the ball in their court now, no pun intended.
