The NBA’s most dominant video game of all time now has the most dominant player on the cover of NBA 2K18 later this year. NBA 2K18 will be released on September 19 on PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. 2K announced their cover athlete and release date information yesterday with an awesome announcement trailer seen below.
In the trailer Shaquille thanks his coaches, teammates, and family with a surprise appearance by another 2K cover athlete, Kobe Bryant.
I want to thank NBA 2K for their continuous support of my basketball and broadcast career…
I’m excited to be on the cover of the NBA 2K18 Legend Edition and I hope my fans have a blast playing it up big man style and re-creating my most legendary in-game moments!
2K is hooking up its loyal fans with a ton of bonus content. In the Legend Edition, you’ll receive plenty of Shaq content that includes a poster, Panini trading cards, and stickers. You’ll also receive in-game items such as the 100,000 virtual currency and 20 weekly MyTeam packs.
If that wasn’t enough for you, you can also purchase the Legend Edition Gold containing all of the Edition and a Gold lenticular cover. Additional content include 150,000 VC (250,000 total), 20 additoinal MyTeam Packs (40 total) and Shaq’s jersey collection.
The Legend Edition will cost $100, and the Legend Gold Edition will cost $150. The physical Legend Gold Edition will only be available at your local GameStop.
It’s worth noting that last years NBA 2K17 Kobe Bryant Editions were $59.99, $79.99, and $99.99 respectively. Not sure why the price was increased, but if you’re not worried about the extra content, settle for the regular $59.99 version. As of right now, the regular edition will have another NBA player athlete on it. Who will grace that cover? We do not know. If you ask me, it should be Russel Westbrook or perhaps Kawhi Leonard. It’ll be great to see any of these future MVP’s grace the cover of 2K as it has become a staple of basketball culture.
This marks the third time Shaq has landed on the cover of the 2K series. The first and second time was on NBA 2K6 and 2K7 in the Miami Heat uniforms, never as a Laker.
NBA 2K18 will be available early to those who pre-order any of the two special editions at participating retailers on September 15. We’ll cover more news on NBA 2K as they debut more information in the future.
