RIP the dream.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed that the promised return of the fan-favorite NFL 2K series is no longer happening. Zelnick stated this in an interview with Stephen Totilo at Game File.

The return of NFL 2K was announced back in 2020. Take-Two entered into a multi-year agreement deal with the NFL and NFLPA that would allow Take-Two to release new, officially licensed NFL football games starting in 2021.

Fans eager for an NFL 2K21 were ultimately let down. Six years after the return was announced, Zelnick says that the dream is pretty much dead.

Rumors suggest that as of 2023, development had already restarted two times on this NFL 2K return. The major issue is the fact that Electronic Arts retained the exclusive simulation rights to the NFL. Meaning that NFL 2K would have to create a very arcade-like NFL game. This shift necessitated major changes be made to work that had already been done. 2K had a difficult time finding a good balance that would appeal to fans of their older, sim-like experiences while still being enough of an arcade-like experience so as not to infringe on the exclusive deal EA had.

Zelnick says that the possibility of NFL 2K returning isn't completely dead. He says that "if an opportunity presents itself," then we might see NFL 2K again.

The only game released as part of this partnership between Take-Two and the NFL was NFL 2K Playmakers for mobile devices. This game was focused mainly on collecting cards and not entirely dissimilar to the MyTEAM mode from other 2K Sports titles. That mobile release only lasted about a year before it was pulled and shut down.

The last mainline NFL 2K title was ESPN NFL 2K5 released in 2004 for the original Xbox and PlayStation 2.