If you see an unfamiliar younger face in NBA 2K20, don’t adjust your settings. 140 motion capture cameras as well as 146 Pixelgun cameras have brought 15-year-old William Floyd to life within the game. Thanks to 2K and Make-A-Wish Foundation, William has become the first non-NBA athlete to have a place in the playable roster. However William Floyd hasn’t had the easiest life. From 18-months-old, the Georgia-native was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder causing severe muscle and heart problems. Unfortunately this has meant things like playing sports wasn’t a reality for William like most other kids his age. However there is one sport he gets to play, NBA 2K20. With the help of Make-A-Wish, William’s wish of visiting the home of NBA 2K at 2K HQ in Novato, California was coming true. But that’s all William thought he was getting. Being authentically scanned into NBA 2K20 at the 2K Motion Capture Studio was an unexpected surprise by 2K themselves.
“When we learned about William’s wish to visit 2K, the whole team was thrilled,” said Ronnie Singh, also known as Ronnie 2K. “Learning about his journey was really humbling, and we wanted to find a way to make William’s wish come true in the biggest way possible. We couldn’t think of a better way to do that than bringing his passion to life in-game and giving millions of NBA 2K fans around the world the chance to enjoy William’s player model.”
“Each player does a dance move or a celebration before he gets on the court,” William explained. “So, I got one of those, too. I got to create it.”
William has also been allowed to give his creative input. He had the chance to sit down with NBA 2K marketing and video capture teams and the development team at Visual Concepts and shared his ideas about game modes, features and potential cover athletes.
“The cool thing is that 2K took what could have been a great wish and brought it to a level that we never expected,” says William’s mom, Julie. “They treated him – and all of us – like royalty and were so interested in everything William had to offer them. It was absolutely unbelievable.”
Available for download beginning today on the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X, as well as PlayStation®4 system, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch™, William’s NBA® 2K20 player model may be found within Quick Game mode as a free agent for players to include on their teams of choice, as well as through new MyCAREER and MyLEAGUE rosters.
