Sean Sullivan

NBA 2K Sizzle Reel

& Writing Guidelines

My role: writer + content strategist

BRAND


In 2016, 2K Games repositioned its brand. The goal was to be rooted in absolute realism. That started with the launch of NBA 2K17.


CHALLENGE


Create new in-game audio that truly sounds like the live commentary of an actual NBA game.


OPPORTUNITY


We went right to the source. We hired some of the most well-known commentators in the league to record our voice-over. However, because their studio time was limited, we had to write dialogue that really sounded like them—not just their voices, but also their opinions.


For NBA 2K17, I personally wrote over 8,000 lines of new dialogue for TV announcers, coaches, and players. I also edited and polished the work of seven other writers, and wrote the Writing Guidelines.

SIZZLE REEL

To call some attention to our new brand positioning, we created a sizzle reel that features some of our new in-game dialogue. We also went behind the scenes, giving a taste of our audio recording sessions with some of our most well-known talent.

WRITING

GUIDELINES

I developed the new Writing Guidelines to map to the repositioning of the NBA 2K brand, and continue to update it.


It currently lives in a Google Slides presentation, but someday (fingers crossed) we're going to publish it online so it's easier to tab through the sections.