Since NBA 2K is the most realistic sports video game on the planet, we wanted to show just how blurry the lines are between video games and real life.

We started with a commercial honoring Kobe Bryant on the night of his retirement. We followed it up with a commercial starring seven NBA superstars and legendary Coach K. We even created the #2KDay holiday to celebrate the happiest day of the year for our fans – the day 2K17 was first available in stores – along with a first-of-its-kind Snapchat lens that turned selfies into a competitive game of shooting hoops. We also released an online video promoting the NBA2K17 companion app with Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns, which resulted in a million more app downloads than last year. Leading up to the holidays, we integrated Fitbit within NBA2K17, so now when gamers are active in the real world, their player gets better in the game. By turning physical activity into gameplay, we’ve created a way to engage gamers even when they aren’t in front of their consoles.

The campaign for NBA2K17 led to the strongest launch of the game ever. There was a 49% increase in pre-orders over the previous year, a 90% increase in mobile app downloads, and an overall sales growth of over 10%.