NBA 2K12

With over 5 million copies sold worldwide and over 20 Sports Game of Year awards, last year NBA 2K11 allowed you to BECOME THE GREATEST with MJ & the Jordan Challenge mode. This year the NBA 2K franchise is…

84 4 October 2011

Simulator Sport Strategy Non-fiction

NBA 2K12 is a simulator developed by Visual Concepts, released 4 October 2011 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OnLive Game System and PC (Microsoft Windows).

Verified 27 Sep 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What NBA 2K12 is

NBA 2K12 is a simulator game developed by Visual Concepts and released in 2011. It was published by 2K Sports. It is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OnLive Game System and PC (Microsoft Windows).

The premise, in the publisher's words

NBA 2K12 is a 2011 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K. It was released in October 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and, for the first time, iOS. As the thirteenth installment in the NBA 2K series, it is the successor to NBA 2K11 and the predecessor to NBA 2K13. For the first time in the series, three different covers are available; the three cover athletes are Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls, Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics. This was the last installment in the series to be released for the PlayStation 2.

Description from Wikipedia · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are non-fiction. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Multiplayer, Single player and Split screen.

Where it sits in the NBA series

NBA 2K12 is the 115th of 187 entries we hold in the NBA series. It arrived 8 months after NBA Jam. The next entry was NBA 2K12 in 2011. Its critic score of 84 is 11 points above the series average of 73. The highest-rated entry is NBA 2K11 at 92.

See all 187 NBA games in release order →

How it was received

NBA 2K12 holds a critic score of 84 out of 100. That places it above 83% of the 2,881 rated simulator games in our database, which average 71. Games released in 2011 averaged 68, so it scored 16 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 83, across 55 votes.

What it launched against

NBA 2K12 launched on 4 October 2011, within three weeks of Batman: Arkham City, Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus (2011) and Gears of War 3. All of them reviewed better.

Released around the same time: Batman: Arkham City, Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus (2011), Gears of War 3.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for NBA 2K12 yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →