NBA 2K21

This page is for the Windows version. For the Apple Arcade version, see NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition.


⤏ Go to series page
NBA 2K9	2008
NBA 2K10	2009
NBA 2K11	2010
NBA 2K12	2011
NBA 2K13	2012
NBA 2K14	2013
NBA 2K15	2014
NBA 2K16	2015
NBA 2K17	2016
NBA 2KVR Experience	2016
NBA 2K18	2017
NBA 2K19	2018
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2	2018
NBA 2K20	2019
NBA 2K21	2020
NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition	2021
NBA 2K22	2021
NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition	2021
NBA 2K23	2022
NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition	2022

NBA 2K21 is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view sports game in the NBA 2K series.

Key points

Based on the PlayStation 4/Xbox One release.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store
GamersGate		Mamba Forever Edition also available.
		Mamba Forever Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming		Mamba Forever Edition also available.
Humble Store		Mamba Forever Edition also available.
Steam		Mamba Forever Edition also available.

Version differences

Mamba Forever Edition includes 100,000 virtual currency, 10,000 MyTEAM points, 10 MyTEAM tokens, 60 MyCAREER skill boosts, 30 Gatorade boosts, 40 MyTEAM promo packs (10 at launch, then 3 per week), Sapphire Damian Lillard and Zion Williamson MyTEAM cards, 5 pair MyCAREER shoe collection, MyPLAYER backpack, Kobe Bryant digital collection.

Monetization

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
Currency	Packs of Virtual Currency are available to purchase with real money.
Infinite spend	Virtual Currency can be bought with no limit.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\2K Sports\NBA 2K21\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1225330/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%PROGRAMDATA%\2K Sports\NBA 2K21\^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1225330/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+ menus and gameplay, pillarboxed FMVs.^[2]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Different camera angles, zoom and height levels can be set during the match.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA. Anti-aliasing Quality controls the number of extra coverage samples (driver-dependent). TAA toggle. SSAA can be enforced independently by editing `VideoSettings.cfg`.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		On, Off, Half-rate, Dynamic. Dynamic enforces Half-rate Vsync during cutscenes.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		The game was designed for 60 Hz refresh rate.^[3] Capped at 240 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Certain actions cannot be performed with a mouse.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Can be done through key bindings and will only be inverted during gameplay.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		^[4]
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		^[5]
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	unknown

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		^[6]
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Default key bindings - offense.
Default key bindings - off-ball offense.
Default key bindings - defense.
Default key bindings - off-ball defense.
Default controller layout - offense.
Default controller layout - off-ball offense.
Default controller layout - defense.
Default controller layout - off-ball defense.

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Commentary, PA, Sound Effects, Crowd, Player Chatter, Menu Music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	4	Versus, Co-op
LAN play
Online play	10	Versus, Co-op The official multiplayer service was shut down on December 31, 2022.^[7]

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Self-hosting

VR support

3D modes	Native	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	8.1, 10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3-2100 3.1 GHz AMD FX 4100 3.6 GHz	Intel Core i5-4430 3 GHz AMD FX 8370 3.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	110 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 AMD Radeon HD 7770 1 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 AMD Radeon R9 270 2 GB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0x compatible
Other	CPU supporting SSE 4.2 and AVX.	Dual-analog controller.

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1225330/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1225330) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ NBA 2K21 inserts unskippable ads into pre-game loading screens - last accessed on 2020-10-19
↑ NBA 2K21 - PC Ultra Quality (3440x1440) - last accessed on 2020-09-04
↑ Developer notes found in %APPDATA%\2K Sports\NBA 2K21\VideoSettingsHelp.txt
↑ Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game with Microsoft's Xbox One controller connected through a USB cable
↑ Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game with Sony PlayStation DualShock 4 V2 controller connected through a USB cable
↑ Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game by hot-plugging two different controllers
↑ NBA 2K21 SERVER SHUTDOWN - 2K Support - last accessed on 2022-11-12

[Proton_path_note-2] 1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1225330/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1225330) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[gamedir-3] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[1] NBA 2K21 inserts unskippable ads into pre-game loading screens - last accessed on 2020-10-19

[4] NBA 2K21 - PC Ultra Quality (3440x1440) - last accessed on 2020-09-04

[5] Developer notes found in %APPDATA%\2K Sports\NBA 2K21\VideoSettingsHelp.txt

[6] Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game with Microsoft's Xbox One controller connected through a USB cable

[7] Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game with Sony PlayStation DualShock 4 V2 controller connected through a USB cable

[8] Verified by User:AlRayes BRN on 2020-09-04
Tested the game by hot-plugging two different controllers

[9] NBA 2K21 SERVER SHUTDOWN - 2K Support - last accessed on 2022-11-12

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Developers

	Visual Concepts
Publishers
	2K Sports
Release dates
Windows	September 4, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	67
OpenCritic	68
IGDB	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Ad-supported^[1]
Microtransactions	Currency, Infinite spend
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Sports
Sports	Basketball
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	North America
Series	NBA 2K