Source: Michael Chang / Getty
If you’re a 2K fan there’s always been two ’90s players you wanted to pick but they were never available.
First, there was Michael Jordan— who wasn’t in the game until about a decade ago in 2K11, and was featured on the cover of 2K11 and 2K12. But another great that’s never been featured is Charles Barkley and it’s got nothing to do with him wanting more money from the company.
The Hall of Famer was recently accepting questions from what seems like a Q&A for fans, when someone named Nick asked Barkley why he’s never been in any of the games.
“That’s a great question. I’m asked that question a lot,” he says before explaining that 2K Games makes $300 million a year, adding. “And they pay the guys chump change.”
Barkley was hugely financially successful during his career and does well still as a prominent member of the NBA on TNT roundtable alongside former players Kenny Smith, Shaq, and sportscaster Ernie Johnson Jr. so he doesn’t want any more compensation for himself. Instead, he wants to help players that came before him.
“Just giving me some money doesn’t help anybody,” he explains. “I said to give the old retired players $1 million and I’ll be in the video game. They said that they’d pay the same amount they pay the others. But I’m not like the others, and I don’t even know why these other guys are taking that money.”
Chuck reveals it happens every year just like clockwork.
“So they piss me off every year and call me every year asking if I’ve changed my mind,” Barkley explains as he continues to deny the request. “There’s players older than me who didn’t make any money. Those are the guys who are older who probably need the money. So that’s why I’m not in the video game.”
Barkley may not be too far off from the company’s earnings– as recently as 2019, Take-Two sold nearly 90 million units.
