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Magic And Bird Join Jordan As NBA 2K12 Cover Athletes
Riding high after 14 sports game of the year awards and nine straight months in the NPD top 10 sales chart, 2K Sports' NBA 2K franchise wanted to keep its forward momentum despite the pending NBA lockout that could erase part or all of next season. Digging into the league's rich past by extending the influence of legend Michael Jordan and bringing in Lakers great Magic Johnson and Celtics icon Larry Bird is a good start. Each will grace his own NBA 2K12 cover.
“Bringing Michael Jordan to the virtual hardwood last year was a huge success for NBA 2K11, but we didn’t want to stop there,” said 2K Sports vice president of marketing Jason Argent in a press statement. “We’re bringing His Airness back to the NBA 2K franchise again as part of a three-year extended partnership, along with two other legendary icons – Larry Bird and Magic Johnson – for a special cover athlete collection representing some of the NBA’s greatest heroes.”
Though developer Visual Concepts wouldn't share its plans, we expect the studio to leverage the cover stars' involvement in some capacity within the game as well.
The covers, which look like an exaggerated take on the art style employed by this generation of EA Sports covers, were created by Adam Larson of Adam&Co. Click on the images below to see enlarged versions.
Whether or not the NBA season actually happens, NBA 2K12 comes out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 4.
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