The Daily Populous Thursday May 2nd, 2024 morning edition
Authored by eurogamer.net and submitted by opreaadriann

TopSpin 2K25 players are furious at 2K as online server issues have hampered the game's single-player career mode since launch.

The tennis game, the first in the long-running series for 13 years, released last week to generally positive reviews, but its single-player career mode requires an online connection.

Unfortunately, multiple server issues mean the mode has been unplayable for some, while progress has been lost for others.

TopSpin 2K25 | Official Announce Trailer | 2K TopSpin 2K25 | Official Announce Trailer | 2KWatch on YouTube

What's more, a notice for the game across all stores reads: "Please note that TopSpin 2K25's online features are scheduled to be available until 31st December 2026 though we reserve the right to modify or discontinue online features without notice."

This certainly suggests the servers may not be renewed after this date, which would mean even the game's single-player career mode would be unavailable due to the online requirement.

The career mode allows players to create and customise their own tennis player and compete in world famous tournaments. It's the game's flagship single player mode, but without an internet connection, only exhibition matches and training are accessible.

The error message when playing offline | Image credit: 2K / Eurogamer

Over on the TopSpin2K reddit, the community has been dominated by posts demanding an offline option for the career mode and lamenting the server issues.

"Make Career offline or you will lose your fans," reads one post simply enough. Others praise the "perfect" gameplay but state the game is disappointing due to "bad servers".

Another player finally beat Alcarez on hard mode, but due to a connection error progress was lost.

One post is more understanding, but suggests giving players at least the option to play offline.

"Server issues aside, it's pretty limiting to have a single-player game mode require online server connection just to play and save," it reads. "I get why it's needed. Our myPlayer characters are used online as well as in career mode so saving anything locally opens up to hacking, cheating etc. And I get that the rest of the progression with cosmetics, boosts etc. rely on the servers to track our currency and purchases in and out of career mode."

An offline option, the post posits, would theoretically allow players to progress the career without affecting online multiplayer and could still be tied to the online shop for cosmetics.

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Another one post surmises: "The greatest tennis gameplay ever created surrounded by utter, utter bullshit, nonsensical, stupid, offensively unresearched, lazy, lazy, lazy content."

A lawyer from the Netherlands has also weighed in on reddit, organising an EU class action lawsuit against 2K for "misleading advertising" due to the need for online connection and the servers closing in 2026. It's unclear if this will gather steam.

So far, 2K has acknowledged server issues on its 2K Support social media account, which have impacted TopSpin 2K25 and some other 2K games. While replies were turned off, many quoted posts are lambasting 2K for its online requirements. There's no suggestion an offline mode could be implemented.

Connectivity to online modes for 2K Games impacted by today's reported issues are now running properly and available. Thanks for your patience, and see you out there! — 2K Support (@2KSupport) April 29, 2024 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

Eurogamer has contacted 2K for comment.

SaintsPelicans1 on May 1st, 2024 at 18:25 UTC »

FAULT

dburr10085 on May 1st, 2024 at 16:50 UTC »

A tennis game with server issues. Now I’ve seen it all.

working-acct on May 1st, 2024 at 16:40 UTC »

2K at it again. Do not buy their games, it ain't worth it.