Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the 2K franchise, most recently NBA 2K and WWE 2K, and previously NFL 2K. Visual Concepts was acquired by Sega in May 1999 and sold to Take-Two Interactive in January 2005. The acquisition of the company led Take-Two Interactive to open their 2K label which Visual Concepts became part of, on the day following the acquisition. As of December 2018, the company employs more than 350 people.
History
Visual Concepts was founded in 1988 by programmer Scott Patterson and brothers Greg and Jeff Thomas, and was originally based in a small office above a bank in Novato, California. In 1992, programmer Cary Hammer, who worked as a freelancer for the company left to found Unexpected Development. In 1994, more employees left to found Tiburon Entertainment, mainly to take production of the Madden NFL game franchise. On January 25, 1995, Electronic Arts announced that they had acquired a stake in the company. In September 1997, Sega announced their intentions to acquire the company; the deal was closed on May 18, 1999, and Visual Concepts switched ownership for an undisclosed sum.
Following a June 2004 deal between Sega and Take-Two Interactive, wherein the two would co-publish and distribute titles in Visual Concepts' ESPN-based game series, rumors started spreading in December 2004, which suggested that Take-Two Interactive was planning to acquire Visual Concepts from Sega. On January 24, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced to have completed a transaction of to Sega for the acquisition of Visual Concepts, its subsidiary Kush Games, and the intellectual property to the 2K franchise. The publisher's 2006 Form 10-K filing later showed that a total of had been paid to Sega for the acquisition of Visual Concepts and affiliated properties by January 2006. On January 25, 2005, the day following the acquisition, Take-Two Interactive announced their new publishing label, 2K, which would henceforth manage Visual Concepts and Kush Games.
A March 2009 research study on Metacritic scores, conducted by GameQuarry, ranked Visual Concepts as the number one "most consistent" video game developer on the review aggregator website, with 50 out of their 72 games at the time having received an aggregated review score of 80/100 or higher. In August 2010, Visual Concepts laid off 30 employees due to "the need for resource alignment and better efficiency". In December 2018, at The Game Awards 2018, Greg Thomas was honored with the "Industry Icon" award for his 30-year services with Visual Concepts.
2K acquired HookBang's game division, which had worked with Visual Concepts on the NBA 2K games previously, in March 2021. The division was rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin to continue to support Visual Concepts. In February 2024, an unknown number of employees at Visual Concepts Austin were affected by layoffs.
Games developed
1989–2004 Year Title Platform(s) 1989 Gnarly Golf Apple IIGS Great Western Shootout Sword of Sodan (unreleased) 1990 Designasaurus II MS-DOS Pipe Mania Apple IIGS Task Force 1991 Trog NES MathCopter MS-DOS 1992 McDonaldland Game Boy Spot: The Cool Adventure Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf Super NES 1993 Bill Walsh College Football ClayFighter Harley's Humongous Adventure Madden NFL '94 Taz-Mania We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story 1994 ClayFighter: Tournament Edition Claymates Dominus MS-DOS Lester the Unlikely Super NES Madden NFL '95 MLBPA Baseball NHL 95 1995 Toughman Contest Sega Genesis WeaponLord Sega Genesis, Super NES Viewpoint PlayStation Madden NFL '96 PlayStation (cancelled) 1996 NHL 97 PlayStation, Sega Saturn 1997 NBA Action 98 Microsoft Windows, Sega Saturn NBA Fastbreak '98 PlayStation 1998 One 1999 NBA 2K Dreamcast NFL 2K NHL 2K 2000 NBA 2K1 NFL 2K1 2001 Floigan Bros. NBA 2K2 Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox NCAA College Football 2K2: Road to the Rose Bowl Dreamcast NFL 2K2 Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox NHL 2K2 Ooga Booga Dreamcast World Series Baseball 2K2 Dreamcast, Xbox 2002 NBA 2K3 GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox NCAA College Basketball 2K3 NCAA College Football 2K3 NFL 2K3 NHL 2K3 Sega Soccer Slam ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth Xbox 2003 ESPN College Hoops PlayStation 2, Xbox ESPN NBA Basketball ESPN NHL Hockey ESPN NFL Football World Series Baseball 2K3 2004 ESPN College Hoops 2K5 ESPN NBA 2K5 ESPN NFL 2K5 ESPN NHL 2K5 ESPN Major League Baseball
2005–present Year Title Platform(s) Notes 2005 College Hoops 2K6 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 Major League Baseball 2K5 PlayStation 2, Xbox Assisted Kush Games Major League Baseball 2K5: World Series Edition NBA 2K6 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 NHL 2K6 Assisted Kush Games 2006 College Hoops 2K7 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360 Major League Baseball 2K6 GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360 Assisted Kush Games NBA 2K7 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360 NHL 2K7 Assisted Kush Games 2007 All-Pro Football 2K8 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 College Hoops 2K8 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Major League Baseball 2K7 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360 Assisted Kush Games NBA 2K8 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NHL 2K8 Assisted 2K Los Angeles The Bigs PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360 Assisted Blue Castle Games 2008 Major League Baseball 2K8 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 Assisted 2K Los Angeles NBA 2K9 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NHL 2K9 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 2009 Major League Baseball 2K9 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NBA 2K10 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 NBA 2K10: Draft Combine PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NHL 2K10 PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 2010 Major League Baseball 2K10 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NBA 2K11 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 NHL 2K11 Wii 2011 Major League Baseball 2K11 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 NBA 2K12 2012 Major League Baseball 2K12 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 MyNBA 2K Android, iOS NBA 2K13 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360 NBA 2K MyLife Facebook Platform 2013 Major League Baseball 2K13 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NBA 2K14 Android, Fire OS, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One WWE 2K14 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Assisted Yuke's 2014 NBA 2K15 Android, Fire OS, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One NHL 2K Android, iOS Assisted Virtuos WWE 2K15 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Assisted Yuke's 2015 NBA 2K16 Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One WWE 2K16 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Assisted Yuke's 2016 NBA 2K17 Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One NBA 2K17: The Prelude PlayStation 4, Xbox One NBA 2KVR Experience Android, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 Assisted Specular Interactive WWE 2K17 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Assisted Yuke's 2017 NBA 2K18 Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One NBA 2K18: The Prelude PlayStation 4, Xbox One WWE 2K18 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Assisted Yuke's 2018 NBA 2K19 Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One NBA 2K19: The Prelude PlayStation 4, Xbox One WWE 2K19 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Assisted Yuke's 2019NBA 2K20 Stadia, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox OneWWE 2K20 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One 2020NBA 2K21 Stadia, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S 2021NBA 2K22 Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S 2022 WWE 2K22 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S NBA 2K23 Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S 2023 WWE 2K23 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Lego 2K Drive Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S NBA 2K24 2024 WWE 2K24 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S NBA 2K25 Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S2025WWE 2K25Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, iOS NBA 2K26 Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S2026WWE 2K26Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
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