Ronnie 2K

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What's Your Story? with Steph McMahon 58 min 3 speakers 8 chapters transcribed
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How did Ronnie 2K become the most hated man in basketball?

Unknown 0:01
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.
Unknown 0:27
WWE 2K26 pre-order now.
Steph McMahon 0:32
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.
Unknown 0:49
Well, and especially if you're shoot basing it on data.

What impact does WWE fandom have on Ronnie's career?

Steph McMahon 0:53
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.
Unknown 1:06
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.
Steph McMahon 1:27
I figured you'd have like four of those.
Unknown 1:29
Yeah, what is that called? Slate.

What challenges did Ronnie face in his journey?

Steph McMahon 1:32
The slate? Can we get a slate?
Unknown 1:34
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.
Unknown 2:08
So, I mean, that's a big deal to be the most hated man in basketball.
Steph McMahon 2:15
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.
Unknown 2:33
Oh, I thought for sure it was both.
Steph McMahon 2:35
No. That's disappointing. No, I know.
Unknown 2:38
This is actually very disappointing.

How does the player rating system work in NBA 2K?

Unknown 2:40
I feel like this is it. Yeah, to actually not... Great interview.
Steph McMahon 2:43
Thank you.
Unknown 2:47
I mean, you're not... I mean, I thought you brought the heat in. You took the heat.
Steph McMahon 2:51
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.
Steph McMahon 3:42
Really?
Unknown 3:42
Is that like a separate business?
Steph McMahon 3:44
What do you mean?
Unknown 3:45
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.
Steph McMahon 4:09
Yeah, I mean, we're as authentic as you can be. We have video cameras in every arena. We are trying to capture as much data as possible. We are trying to make this thing as authentic as possible. And so that is a key feature to our game, being able to get as much information and have it output in a really accurate way. So accurate that, you know, like even LeBron was talking about the first time he joined the Lakers saying, he was using 2K to plug himself in and see how they were going to play. And like different coaches have different... Wait, really?

What role does data play in player ratings?

Steph McMahon 4:40
Can you repeat that?
Unknown 4:40
That's crazy.
Steph McMahon 4:41
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.

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