NBA 2K Series Adds Another Co-Developer With HookBang Acquisition

Take-Two and 2K Sports announced on Tuesday that they have acquired the Austin, Texas-based studio HookBang, which will be folded into NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts.

The new studio will be called Visual Concepts Austin, and it aims to employ "hundreds" of people to support the NBA 2K series. This office will also do publishing work.

HookBang is described as a "solutions-based collective" made up of engineers, artists, and designers that work with brands on software design, among other things. The company worked with 2K and Visual Concepts on the art, design, and engineering for NBA 2K21, so this acquisition is not completely unexpected or out of the ordinary.

Visual Concepts Austin, the new studio, will "expand its efforts on the NBA 2K franchise, including platform development and live services support."

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

NBA 2K21 has sold more than 8 million copies, with microtransaction spending rising year-over-year as well. It makes sense that 2K and Visual Concepts are looking to add more developers to the series to further enhance the appeal of the brand.