2K (company)

2K's original logo

On January 24, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition of Visual Concepts, the developer of sports video game series like NBA 2K, NHL 2K, and MLB 2K. Take-Two paid Sega US$24 million for the studio, including its Kush Games subsidiary and the intellectual property of the 2K series.[2][3] On the following day, the company established the 2K publishing label, consisting of the sub-labels 2K Games and 2K Sports, with the latter focusing on sports games.[4][5][6] Visual Concepts and Kush Games, alongside Indie Built, Venom Games, PopTop Software, and Frog City Software, became studios of the new label, which also absorbed the staff of Take-Two Licensing.[7] In January 2006, the administration and marketing portions of 2K's New York City offices were heavily damaged by a five-alarm fire.[8] In June 2007, the company closed these offices and relocated to Novato, California, bringing it closer to Visual Concepts.[9] A third sub-label, 2K Play, was established with a focus on casual games in September 2007, with Take-Two announcing a partnership with Nickelodeon for licensed games based on the latter's TV shows.[10][11] 2K Play therein also absorbed all assets of Take-Two's budget-range publisher Global Star Software, including the studio Cat Daddy Games, the game Carnival Games, and games based on Deal or No Deal.[12] In January 2013, 2K obtained the rights to publish video games based on the professional wrestling company WWE.[13]

Christoph Hartmann, 2K's president, announced his resignation in May 2017.[14] He had worked for Take-Two for roughly twenty years but did not state a reason for his departure.[15][16] He was succeeded by David Ismailer, previous chief operating officer (COO), later that month.[17][18] The COO role was filled by Phil Dixon, formerly of Betfair, in November 2017, while Melissa Bell was hired as senior vice president and head of global marketing in April 2018.[19] In September 2018, 2K announced 2K Foundations, a program that would "support underserved communities across the nation by refurbishing basketball courts in neighborhoods that need them the most". Microsoft partnered with 2K to establish gaming stations fitted with Xbox One S consoles at these courts. 2K Foundations planned to refurbish twelve basketball courts in several cities across the United States (including Cincinnati, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Cleveland) within its first year.[20][21]

In March 2021, 2K acquired HB Studios, which had previously developed The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K21 for the company. The acquisition includes the rights to the Golf Club series, which had been relaunched as the PGA Tour 2K series through a license from the PGA Tour.[22] Additionally, 2K announced it had secured a contract with Tiger Woods, who had previously been a key figure for Electronic Arts' PGA Tour series, as an executive director and consultant for future PGA Tour 2K games, as well as his likeness for the games.[23] Later that month, 2K bought HookBang's games division in Austin, Texas, which had supported work on the NBA 2K series in the past. The studio was relocated to a new Austin location and rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin.[24] In September 2022, 2K's customer support team was hacked, with certain user data stolen and put on sale.[25][26]

• 2K Madrid in Madrid, Spain; founded in June 2021.[27]
• 2K Chengdu in Chengdu, China; founded in June 2011.[28]
• 2K Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.; founded in 2006 as 2K West, rebranded in 2013.[29][30]
• 31st Union in San Mateo, California, U.S. and Valencia, Spain; founded in 2019 as 2K Silicon Valley, rebranded in 2020.[31][32]
• Cat Daddy Games in Kirkland, Washington, U.S.; founded in 1996, acquired in 2003.[33]
• Cloud Chamber in Novato, California, U.S. and Montreal, Canada; founded in 2019.[34]
• Firaxis Games in Hunt Valley, Maryland, U.S.; founded in 1996, acquired in 2005.[35]
• Hangar 13 in Novato, California, U.S., Brno and Prague, Czech Republic, and Brighton, England; founded in 2014.[36]
• HB Studios in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Canada; founded in 2000, acquired in 2021.[23]
• Visual Concepts in Novato, California, U.S.; founded in 1988, acquired in 2005.[4][37]

• BioShock (since 2007)
• Borderlands (since 2009)
• Civilization (since 2005)
• Mafia (since 2010)
• X-COM (since 2012)
• NBA 2K (since 2005)
• PGA Tour 2K (since 2018)
• WWE 2K (since 2013)

• Official website