NBA 2K21 Next-Gen Gameplay: No COVID-19 in sight as the Arena comes to life - Fans, Customisation, the Bubble & more

If we're talking Next Gen titles that we're hyped for, NBA 2K21 is right up there.

The team at 2K Sports shared more news surrounding their basketball sim today, and there are some interesting points to take away from the reveal.

The Arena is set to be bigger and better than ever before, with COVID-19 nowhere to be seen!

Next Gen Gameplay

Check out the latest footage of the Next Gen gameplay below!

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The Arena Comes to Life

The NBA 2K franchise has long been at the forefront in terms of the crowd animations in-game.

READ MORE: NBA 2K21 Next Gen Ratings Revealed: LeBron, Lakers, Giannis, & more

On the Next Gen consoles, those crowds are set to be bigger and better than ever before.

There will be in excess of 150 AI-powered characters populating the Lower Bowl of your 2K arena, making for a hyper-realistic atmosphere in those big playoff games.

No COVID-19 in sight

With other sporting titles such as Football Manager confirming that COVID-19 will play a part in their games, some wondered whether or not we would see it in NBA 2K21.

Well thankfully, it appears not.

As we have seen on the present gen version of NBA 2K21 and other sporting titles such as Madden and FIFA, there will be big, robust crowds packed into the stands to help bring the atmosphere to your games.

NBA 2K21 next gen ratings Stephen Curry 1 1
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SPLASH BROS! The crowd will be there to witness you drain those threes!

We can all agree that sports are better with crowds, right?

Will we see the Bubble in NBA 2K21?

It's not something that has been commented on by the team at 2K Sports, but could we see the now infamous Bubble feature in the Next Gen version of the game?

READ MORE: NBA 2K21: Is Luka Doncic the hottest young basketball in the world?

For you Lakers fans it would give you the opportunity to recreate that record-equalling 17th NBA Championship in the very place that LeBron & co won it.

NBA 2K21 Crowds
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Or maybe you'd like to try and recreate the perfect 8-0 record that the Suns managed as they narrowly missed out on a place in the Playoffs.

It would be strange to play a 2K game with no crowd, but we reckon it could be a pretty cool addition nonetheless.

More Customisation to Come?

There are plenty of customisation options available in NBA 2K21, including the ability to create your own court on MyTEAM.

Will we see more to come as NBA 2K21 progresses? Almost definitely.

READ MORE: NBA 2K21: Top earning game in September

It remains to be seen how 2K will go about it, whether we'll have more control over how the fans behave or whether we will see further choices on how to create your own court.

Whichever they opt for we can guarantee that the Next Gen upgrade will bring great things to the basketball sim.