NBA 2K22 Park: Current Gen vs. Next Gen

The Current Gen vs. Next Gen park debate in NBA 2K22 is one that few would've expected when the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S were first announced years ago.

With the horrors of 2K21's zen aim cheating and speedboosting appearing to be in the rear view for now, the biggest dialogue in the NBA 2K MyCareer community continues to revolve around which version of the mode's environment is superior due to the new Neighborhood and City being exclusive to each. Here's a breakdown of the Current Gen and Next Gen parks in NBA 2K22.

NBA 2K22 Park: Current Gen vs. Next Gen

After putting a couple of hours into each, and hearing what the general thoughts are from various content creators of the game are, it's clear that there is a drastic difference between the two experiences for those who mainly play park games.

Thankfully, while Mike Wang and the 2K team have, for the most part, stayed true to their words in making the gameplay on both the current and next-gen versions of the game not as drastically different as it has been in recent years, the differing City and Neighborhood environments remain a glaring contrast.

From a new content standpoint, both are admittedly extremely refreshing to look at and explore. The new City is sprawling with NPCs, POIs and views that makes the map truly feel alive so far. Meanwhile, the Cancha del Mar cruise ship Neighborhood is just exactly what Current Gen needed with its nautical theme and redesigned staples of Ante Up, Gatorade Facility, etc.

However, even simply aside from the sheer differences in player builders I do think that park players have a great argument to strongly prefer the current-gen Neighborhood over the next-gen City.

Ultimately, if you're simply trying to play competitive games of park and don't really care about extra features such as the G League or Affiliations, then the cruise ship Neighborhood is just what you would want.

With the much more compact, vertical, quick-travel focused setup of the current gen park servers, you don't have to ride a skateboard across town to find games since everyone is close by.

Additionally, the aforementioned gameplay is pretty much the same, and the level 40 Seasons system is available on current gen as well.

The main hesitations for recommending Next Gen NBA 2K22 over Current gen for park players would likely have to be missing out on the newer graphics and more elaborate player builder, at least at this point.