2K Games

Background

2K Games is a wholly owned subsidiary and the publishing brand of Take-Two Interactive. It was formed in 2005 in a second effort to concern several internal studios into one brand (the first was Rockstar Games). The company was born after Take-Two bought Visual Concepts from Sega for $24 million, and it became core for the 2K Sports label. Some studios were changed names in order to expand the 2K label, such as 2K Boston, Australia, Marin, West, China and Czech.

1st Logo (March 1, 2005-November 9, 2021?)

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Logo: We quickly move through a tunnel made of red frames and lines. The frames then transform into a red parallelepiped shield with two connected letters, "2K", carved on it. The shield rotates twice and the background lines fades to black. The word "GAMES" appears underneath the shield as it shines.

Variants:

• Starting with Shattered Union, "GAMES" was removed.
• On the Nintendo DS games, the logo is still and lacks the relief effect.
• On Carnival Games Mini-Golf for Wii, the logo is still on a white background.
• On Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for GBA and Motocross Mania 3 for PS2, the shield's colors are reversed.
• In Civilization Revolution, the logo is tinted in black, and is drawn by a caveman on a piece of rock.
• On Evolve, the logo is tinted in silver (with the "2K" in black) and appears in a puddle, where it ripples.
• In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the logo appears on an electrostatic surface and is colored light blue with static and sinister noises. Here, the logo gets erased by an electric shortage.

FX/SFX: The tunnel effect and the rotating shield.

Music/Sounds: A soft electronic-rock tune ending with a computerized announcer saying "2-kay."

Availability: Common. Seen on games like BioShock, Borderlands and Family Guy: Video Game! for PSP, PS2, and Xbox.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (March 25, 2022-)

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Logo: We start with a grayish white background. Then, various black lines are drawn as they are accompanied by more multi-colored lines drawing. The camera zooms back to reveal the "2K" letters from before being drawn out by the lines as the background becomes red. The finished 2K logo, which is on a simple, unitalicized red box, then positions itself to the center of the screen in a blue-purple gradient environment and becomes 2D.

FX/SFX: The drawings and the logo transforming.

Music/Sounds: First, we hear the sounds of sketching. A synth beat then plays when the 2K logo is created, and ends with an electric guitar note.

Availability: Brand new. It made its first appearance on Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and is expected to be seen on future games published by 2K.

Editor's Note: A well-done logo that welcomes players into a new decade for 2K Games.