Chapter 1: How did Ronnie 2K become the most hated man in basketball?
Rated T for Teen. My career has been a fight. A long, brutal, but necessary fight. I was told no more times than I can count. And every single time, I proved them wrong. WWE 2K26 pre-order now.
It's funny that 2K has a point of view on like how popular you are with the fans. And this rating means so much to these guys. Guess what? It doesn't affect their money at all. It doesn't affect anything about their day to day. But it's amazing. Like they really, really care. So the most famous one probably is what happened.
Well, and especially if you're shoot basing it on data.
Chapter 2: What impact does WWE fandom have on Ronnie's career?
Yeah. My usual response is, you want your rating to get better? Play better. Oh, damn. That's simple. No wonder they hate you. I mean. Exactly.
Oh, what's your story? Don't you dare be sour. Clap for Stephanie and be over. It is a satisfying sound, the real, actual, you know.
I figured you'd have like four of those.
Yeah, what is that called? Slate.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Ronnie face in his journey?
The slate? Can we get a slate?
I mean, it's just called, even the wooden one's called the slate? Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, the sound is always so satisfying. The clap is like, it's okay. It's just fun, like, having a different person do it each time. We rate them. They don't know. Speaking of rating. You rate them. Yeah. I mean, actually, Ronnie's whole thing. Right?
Because as you were introduced to me, it was as the heel of 2K. Yeah. Because the NBA players and fans are always so upset with your rankings.
Mm-hmm.
So, I mean, that's a big deal to be the most hated man in basketball.
I learned a lot about being a heel watching WWE programming. So this is kind of a full circle moment for me. Yeah, I'm known as the guy that rates the players, except I actually do not. Oh, you don't? No, no, no. I mean, I give feedback, but I am the messenger, I guess.
Oh, I thought for sure it was both.
No. That's disappointing. No, I know.
This is actually very disappointing.
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Chapter 4: How does the player rating system work in NBA 2K?
I feel like this is it. Yeah, to actually not... Great interview.
Thank you.
I mean, you're not... I mean, I thought you brought the heat in. You took the heat.
Oh, I bring the heat, but I don't actually... Do the ranking. To be honest, a lot of it's automated at this point, right? Like we have...
31 mini attributes for how a basketball player plays and it's thrown into a formula and they then they get all upset But the funny thing is it's controlled by exactly how they play like it's not I mean There's a couple people that tweak the formula and work on that. I provide feedback to that team I work with that team a lot, but it's not like it's totally in our control.
There's no subjective rating It's based on your performance on the coaches utilize any of this I Oh, totally. We've seen the other day, I think it was like the European game. Who was it? Grizzlies and I forget the other team, but they were on the sidelines looking at each other's like ratings and playbooks and all that through 2K. Really?
Is that like a separate business?
What do you mean?
I mean, well, there's the in-game franchise and everything that you do to create the best possible game and make it as real as possible and all of that good stuff. But it sounds like this is sort of like a white label technology for coaches and players. And that's something that they're actually doing and utilizing through 2K to improve players. the player's ability in real-time games.
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Chapter 5: What role does data play in player ratings?
Can you repeat that?
That's crazy.
LeBron James, who is now in his 23rd season in the NBA, when he joined the Lakers, what, three years ago, the first time he saw himself play in the game was in our game. And to learn how he was going to fit in with the team and learn that play set, their coaching styles, he used 2K to figure that out.
Can you change the coaching style?
Yeah, I mean, different coaches have different styles. All of the teams play differently. They play like they do in real life. It's crazy. It's become so realistic.
In the Create Your Own, can you pick different coaching styles?
Yeah, so we have a lot of modes in NBA specifically. I should be talking about WWE. It's all connected. I mean, I've been there 18 years, so I've seen obviously both franchises metamorphosize, you know, in real time. But NBA specifically, like they, you know, a lot of the way it's played now is there's so many modes, right?
Like you have a GM mode where you can like actually do salary cap stuff and construct a roster, hire a coach with a different play style.
Do you have to create like a budget?
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Chapter 6: How has Ronnie's persona evolved over the years?
Right. If the game doesn't allow you to do it, then how is this trade so one-sided that it's happening? It's pretty crazy. It's amazing that the game and the real-life game are intertwined in every way. It's fascinating. We define basketball. Basketball defines us. It's a harmonious yin and yang relationship. It's not what you would think. It's not the game like basketball determining what 2K is.
It's both harmoniously working together. It's beautiful.
Have ā has WWE at all utilized the like in motion capture for data points and analysis in terms of match structure or in any other way?
Definitely. We have motion capture with WWE. The guys come up and jump in the ring and ā
But I mean like real-time data motion, like you're doing with the NBA.
A little bit. Obviously, like the structure of how, you know, ratings would affect a matching outcome.
Well, but I don't even mean ratings. I mean the data sets.
Okay.
The things that you're looking at, the movements. Like if I'm going to... determine how something's going to play out or work or if I want to get a feel for somebody's style. Is that possible?
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Chapter 7: What philanthropic efforts is Ronnie involved in?
matching up the styles of uh two superstars before they get out on the ring um it's uh it's definitely like that exists i don't know if we've leaned in as much on the wwe side just because it's probably newer um but it's definitely how we could use it yeah it's interesting yeah yeah you could have matches before you have matches just like we do yeah like right now well it's the after Yeah.
Right. Like people will recreate the matches. But if you did it in advance, kind of interesting.
Yeah. There's a lot of fun. I mean, like gaming, what has really kept me in this industry for 18 years is like the sky's the limit. You know, like you really can use all of this technology and learn so much about technology.
how the sport is played and that that kind of stuff is so fascinating and like our fans just eat that up 2k has become such a synonymous um culture brand for people that love the game and a lot of it's based on that authenticity
Yeah. And I will say, having worked with 2K as a partner on the business side, it is always about getting the best product possible and really trying to be responsive to fans and the audience and getting ahead of things.
Yeah.
Because there was a big bump in the road at one point in time. And I think the re-correct and where we've been since then has all been so positive. But it was always with this listening mentality and owning whatever happened. And then how are we going to build together going forward? I really enjoyed the process. When I was here, I really enjoyed the partnership from the business side.
I remember that first meeting we had with our exceptional team at 2K and Visual Concepts. We all got together and we're like, this is how this franchise needs to go forward. And you helped us set that tone. And it was exciting. And look how far we've come. It's amazing. Now we have the island and a lot of the things that we've learned. Yeah, that we talked about. Yeah. So cool.
It's pretty incredible to see it a few years later.
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Chapter 8: What are Ronnie's thoughts on the future of gaming and sports?
And then some crossover, right?
Yeah.
We just interviewed Jalen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. It was so much fun to have him, Shaquille, and Tyrese. I mean, it means so much to those guys. Tyrese calls me every few weeks. He's like, I just saw some fan play me in WWE. I'm like, I thought you were talking to me about basketball, but that's cool. So great. It is. It's amazing what you guys have done in terms of crossing over those sports. But I mean, it's just WWE.
Well, I think it's what we're doing together, right? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. It's been an amazing partnership in that way.
Yeah. It's super cool.
Yeah.
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