2K Returns To Making Football Games After Striking New NFL Deal

For years now, if you were looking to play an officially licensed NFL game, you were probably playing something published by Electronic Arts. That'll be changing in the future, as 2K has struck a deal with the NFL that will see it releasing multiple licensed football games in the future. 2K Games is no stranger to publishing sports games, but it's been quite some time since we've seen the company dive into the realm of pro football.

In fact, it's been more than a decade since the NFL 2K series came to an end, with the final mainline release being NFL 2K5. Financial details of today's deal weren't disclosed, nor were game titles, developers or release dates. 2K did say that we'll see the first games of this partnership release in calendar year 2021, specifically during Take-Two's (the parent company of 2K) fiscal year 2022.

That means we'll see 2K's first football games under this partnership release sometime after March 31st, 2021. Though details are fairly slim at this point, 2K did say that these games it's making won't be simulation titles. Simulation, it seems, remains the sole domain of EA, so if that's what you're looking for, it sounds like you'll be sticking with Madden for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, in a statement to Polygon, EA noted that it is the "exclusive publisher of NFL simulation games, and our partnership with the NFL and NFLPA remains unchanged." Whether or not 2K will revive the NFL 2K series is unknown, but if it does, expect to be more of an arcade title than a simulation title.

We'll just have to wait on 2K to reveal more about this deal and its upcoming games. Given that 2K isn't expecting to release its first football titles until early next year, it'll probably be some time before we see official reveals, but we'll let you know when that happens nonetheless.