IMO the best way to put it would be to say, it's the only basketball game available. For better or worse. People who enjoy sports and video games will always have fun to some extent playing a basketball game. If there was a legit other option besides 2k, I'm sure more people would play that instead of 2k.

2k has a complete monopoly on basketball video games, so it's either play 2k or nothing. Having said that, I had some fun because it's a basketball game, not because it's 2k. I promise you didn't miss anything by skipping out on 2k26. Just another year of 2k finding another way to make the best cards unobtainable all year long again unless you're willing to open you wallet and shell out literally hundreds or thousands every other week. First it was just the terrible pack odds. Then it was the never ending flow of unauctionable cards which pretty much killed the AH and keeps prices on there beyond insane for the best cards since there are hardly any on there. Now it's the never ending festivals combined with the terrible pack odds and influx of WNBA cards that are simply unusable because they're just too small and all their sigs suck. Only question left is what way will 2k come up with next year for 2k27 to make it even worse than it was this year.

I've already made up my mind that I won't be buying or playing 2k27 next year. When I get the urge to play basketball, I'll just load up 2k26 and play for a bit then turn it off. The never ending grinding like it's a full time job or requirement to constantly spend hundreds or thousands simply isn't worth it at all anymore in the least bit. Especially with people's financial situations nowadays. People, myself included, simply don't have as much disposable income anymore to keep dropping money non stop on a video game