NBA 2K25 players are encountering a somewhat hilarious but very frustrating bug that sees their own MyPlayer character cloned and competing against or alongside them.
The annualized basketball game is already available to most under the “Early Tip-Off” banner, a somewhat bizarre faux early access period available to anyone who buys the game digitally or physically at “participating retailers”, with only some retailers and Nintendo Switch players unable to play until September 6, 2024.
Players are therefore encountering unusual bugs like the character clones and sharing them online. And while facing off against another version of the heroic protagonist is somewhat of a video game cliche, it’s definitely not intentional in NBA 2K25.
“Playing my first MyCareer game. Anyone get this glitch?” asked New-Tutor-8702 on Reddit, who posted a photo of his Chicago Bulls player and his identical twin. “My MP has duplicated and is playing on court at the same time as me,” said Honest_Database_1550, who encountered the same issue on the Los Angeles Clippers.
A representative of NBA 2K25 did respond to this post, however, saying the team was “looking into this,” though no specifics regarding a fix were shared. It’s also unclear if whatever fix that comes will address all variations of the clone bug.
Putting the others to shame, SinStealer posted a photo of his Philadelphia 76ers MyPlayer cloned not just once but twice, meaning three out of the five players on the floor were mirror images of himself.
Other fans are having fun with it, of course, with one posting a monologue as if from a basketball documentary akin to The Last Dance. “He was crazy. It’s like he was all over the court. He was in front of me, I passed the ball and he was in front of that guy too,” they said.
Some clones are even stealing stats, with players reporting their own numbers being divided between them all. If a player had two clones and scored 12 points, for example, they’d only be credited for four at the end of the game.
But the opposite is happening too: Some players are being awarded for all two or three players combined. “Whichever one is in your position will get your stats but at the end of the game they all count for you,” said NOsaints16. “Combined between my three duplicates I got the GOAT achievement for tying Kobe’s 81 point game.”
And finally, some players aren’t just competing with an annoying bug but literally having to compete with themselves, as some clones are spawning on the opposite team. “I’m in the Jazz and on my second game I was going against myself on the other team for some reason,” said ShadowzOn144hz. “My points per game were divided by half to 47 and it gives feedback for both myself and the clone on the top right.”
This specific version of the bug appears to have a more explicit caus. NBA 2K25 opens with players competing for the 2025 NBA Championship. It’s overtime of Game 7 eand they must win the game for their chosen team.
It turns out to be a “manifestation,” of course, and players come out of a meditative state to begin their MyCareer proper, before the season has even begun. NBA 2K25 then asks the player to choose their actual team, but players are encountering the clone glitch if they choose a different one to their “manifestation” team.
If, for example, a player choose the Miami Heat as their “manifestation” team, and goes through the sequence of pretending to win the 2025 NBA Championship, and they then choose the Orlando Magic as their actual starting MyCareer team, they’ll come up against the clone version of themselves in the Orlando versus Miami games.
The bug will hopefully be addressed by 2K soon, though players will just have to put up with themselves in the meantime.
NBA 2K25 puts Boston Celtics star and 2024 NBA champion Jayson Tatum on the cover alongside WNBA champion A’ja Wilson. The developer announced the top 10 players just ahead of launch, revealing that three Europeans are now considered the three best basketball players by 2K.
Image Credit: SinStealer on Reddit
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.