Shooting in NBA 2K25 — especially 3-point shooting — is harder than it was in NBA 2K24. Players have noticed this since the moment the game released on September 6 and have been talking about on the game’s Reddit page and elsewhere since. To this end, players have even suggested turning off the shot meter in the game actually makes it better. Whatever the case, those who are not enjoying the new, more difficult shooting should get used to because it is by design, and from the sounds of it, going nowhere.ย
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Speaking about shooting, gameplay director on the series, Mike Wang, noted it is harder to shoot because Visual Concepts wanted to make it more realistic, noting that previous games the 3-point percentages were far too high. Not only did this make the game less realistic, but it shifted the meta majorily towards 3-point ball only. With 3-pointers harder to hit, Visual Concepts hopes players will diversify their playstyle, which will in turn enrich the gameplay experience.ย
“The ‘problem’ with shooting is a lot of people are just expecting to have the same success this year as they did in 2K24, but one of the main goals for 2K25 was to bring 3PT%’s down to earth which is why green windows are much tighter by design. The reason why we want 3PT%’s to be closer to NBA averages is because we believe it results in better basketball. It makes more builds viable, encourages more variety in scoring, etc. When 3PT%’s start to hover around 60-70% on average, it makes no sense to ever attempt a 2. So the animation fluctuation that Labs posted today was put in place to combat zens, obviously, but we also thought it was justified because it increases the skill gap with shooting. A good user who’s able to key their release off the jumper’s visual cue, when the time from the button press to that visual cue point is dynamic, should be able to outperform a zen user.”
As you may remember, in the early days of NBA 2K24, it was also harder to score from range, but over time this was changed via patches that made it easier. In other words, there is precedent to expect things to get easier over time, but for now NBA 2K players will have to adjust their game to score the ball.ย
NBA 2K25 is available via Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. For more coverage on this year’s installment, click here.
H/T, Boomie.
