NBA 2K25 gets delisted and single player modes killed after 2 years, while GTA Online just keeps going

2K Sports just announced NBA 2K25 is getting pulled from stores on October 30 and the servers are going dark on December 31. That means MyCareer and MyTeam become completely unplayable after January 1, 2027. Even the single player stuff. You can still play Play Now, MyNBA, The W, and MyWNBA offline, but the modes people actually grind are just gone.

This is the third year in a row they've done this. NBA 2K24 shut down January 31 this year, and 2K23 went dark a year before that. It's basically a two year lifecycle for these games now. People pour money into MyTeam and build up their MyCareer player, and then poof, it's all useless.

Meanwhile GTA Online has been running since 2013 and still makes millions every month. Rockstar keeps updating it, and there's no sign of that stopping. It's wild that both of these are under Take-Two but the approach is completely different. Sports games get the axe because of licensing and because they want you to buy the new one every year. GTA Online just keeps printing money so they keep it alive.

I know GTA 6 is coming in November, and the online mode will be a huge deal. But does anyone think Rockstar would ever do something like this? Like shut down GTA 6 Online after a couple years to force people into GTA 7? Seems unthinkable, but 2K does it with NBA every single year. Maybe the difference is that GTA Online isn't a yearly release, so they have no reason to kill it. But still, the fact that single player modes in NBA 2K25 are going offline is crazy. You can't even play MyCareer offline after the servers go down.

What do you all think? Is GTA 6 Online safe from this kind of treatment, or could Rockstar eventually pull the plug to push people toward whatever comes next?

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Source: GameSpot · Curated content.