NBA 2K25 Pre-Order Bonus (DLC)

I'll be straight with you: this is not a review of a game, it's a review of a bonus parcel -- and one that comes with some important fine print you need to read before spending a single cent. The NBA 2K25 Pre-Order Bonus DLC lists 5,000 VC, two MyTEAM Promo Packs, and a MyPLAYER Gamerplate as its contents. Sounds decent. The catch is that on Steam, the MyPLAYER Gamerplate and the MyTEAM Promo Packs are not included -- Steam and Xbox pre-orders only receive the 5,000 VC portion of the bundle, with the other items being exclusive to PlayStation Store pre-orders. That gap matters a lot when you are deciding whether this DLC key is worth picking up from a third-party storefront. So what can you actually do with 5,000 VC inside NBA 2K25? To put it in perspective, reviewers who tested the full game noted that 100,000 VC moved a MyCAREER character's overall rating from a rookie 60 to a 76 -- meaning 5,000 VC is a genuinely modest nudge, not a meaningful leg-up. VC in NBA 2K25 feeds into MyCAREER for things like apparel, signature animation packages, and attribute upgrades, and also covers pack openings in the card-collecting MyTEAM mode. A small dose of it softens the early grind slightly, but the base game's notorious VC economy -- which critics consistently flagged as one of the steepest in sports gaming -- means 5,000 is more of an amuse-bouche than a full meal. The Trendsetter Reward that was tied to this DLC -- 15,000 VC and a Green Animation -- required logging in before October 17, 2024. That window is long gone, so any copy of this DLC sold now delivers zero Trendsetter content. If a listing implies otherwise, it is misleading you. As for NBA 2K25 itself: the underlying game is genuinely the strongest on-court basketball experience the franchise has put out, with a revised dribbling engine, the ProPlay motion-capture system pulling real NBA footage for animations, Rhythm Shooting adding context-sensitive shot timing, and modes spanning MyCAREER, MyTEAM with the new Triple Threat Park and Breakout modes, the returning MyGM under the MyNBA umbrella, and a growing WNBA side. It also runs on PC and supports split-screen local co-op, so a couch session with friends is absolutely on the table. The microtransaction ecosystem, however, is aggressive by any standard, and 5,000 VC is a symbolic gesture inside that system rather than a real advantage. Bottom line on this specific DLC: if you are on PC via Steam, you are buying a 5,000 VC coupon with a crossed-out item list and an expired bonus. Check whether the DLC is bundled into a discounted base-game deal before buying it standalone -- that is the only scenario where it makes sense. Riley, Scout Team