NBA 2K14 designer calls constant control changes "regrettable"

For all its virtues, the regular control overhauls of controls are one of the downsides of the NBA 2K series - something lead gameplay designer Mike Wang regrets.

NBA 2K14 is the third release in a row to overhaul the series's controls significantly.

“That’s kind of regrettable to be honest with you, we don’t want to change it every year," Wang said in an Operation Sports podcast, as transcribed by Kotaku.

The designer said that Visual Concepts just keeps trying to find the optimum system.

"The idea going into 13 was trying to build what we actually shipped in 14. After an entire year of iteration and trying to solve the problems of putting two major mechanics on one stick without modifiers, it wasn’t ready [for NBA 2K13] so we took the plan B route. 14 is what we really wanted it to be," he said, commenting that he finds it a bit embarrassing.

NBA 2K14 arrives on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 1 in North America and October 4 in Europe. It's coming to PlayStation 4 on November 15 in North America and November 29 in Europe. Finally, it arrives on Xbox One on November 22.