One Up announced Tuesday a multi-year partnership with video game publisher Take-Two Interactive’s 2K Games label to serve as the official on-demand esports platform for the NBA 2K franchise.
Financial terms of this new partnership were not disclosed.
The first step in this partnership begin in the fall following the release of NBA 2K24 on consoles and PC Sept. 8. Following the launch One Up will facilitate a series of “free-to-enter” online tournaments hosted by NBA stars. Further details about these tournaments will be announced closer to the launch of the new game.
Founded in 2019, One Up owns and operates two platforms: GameChangers OS—an esports Software as a Service (SaS) that enables users to “create, market, and monetize their own esports tournament” quickly, and Play One Up—an on-demand esports marketplace to connect players and help them “monetize their skills in one-on-one matchups or tournament gameplay across popular games such as Call of Duty, Fortnite, Madden NFL, NBA 2K, FIFA, and NHL. One Up claims to have more than 750K registered users and has “facilitated” more than $20M USD in payouts to its users.
This new partnership does not appear to be a replacement for the NBA 2K League, but rather as a way to support grassroots competitions that revolve around the popular NBA 2K franchise.