VE Gaming, a subsidiary of Valiant Eagle Inc., a local entertainment company, has secured rights to create a game based on the semi-pro American Basketball Association.
Using the popular “NBA 2K” as a guide, the Canoga Park-based company will create a game featuring ABA teams, players and other related content, according to a release from Valiant Eagle, whose offices are on Wilshire Boulevard near MacArthur Park.
Under the terms of the agreement, VE Gaming and the ABA will utilize a profit-sharing model, the release said.
Xavier Mitchell, chief executive of Valiant Eagle, said that the company sees potential in an ABA-focused video game as it looks to continue building ties to the professional basketball league.
“The success seen by the ‘NBA 2K’ franchise continues to be astounding and we feel there is a real opportunity to market to that gaming audience with our ABA game,” Mitchell said in a statement.
VE Gaming will build on the “NBA 2K” franchise and its successes over the years; “NBA 2K22” had more than 1.9 million daily players in 2022, according to Levvvel.com, a German video game research company, the Valiant Eagle release said.
The latest version of the game, “NBA 2K23,” has already garnered more than 39,171 hours of playing time since its debut in September, the release added.
Originally launched in November 1999, the “NBA 2K” franchise had sold a cumulative 125 million copies as of October of this year, the release said.
In February of last year, Valiant Eagle announced it was forming the ABA Canada with the same format as the one used by ABA Australia, ABA Mexico and the WABA, a women’s league.
In late October, Valiant Eagle announced that its gaming subsidiary was preparing to release its first demo game, “Roo Awakening,” in conjunction with Robot Sea Monster, a mobile and web game development studio based in San Francisco.
After months of collaboration, VE Gaming and Robot Sea Monster have completed the new video game and are now shifting attention to the gaming demo launch, as well as organizing a private demo for select gamers in the industry, according to a release from the company.
