2K Sports Major League Baseball series

2K Sports Major League Baseball series (MLB 2K) was a series of Major League Baseball video games, developed by Visual Concepts and Kush Games, and published by 2K Games. There were nine games in the series: 2K5, 2K6, 2K7, 2K8, 2K9, 2K10, 2K11, 2K12 and 2K13. All games were created for each MLB season. The series was created in 2005 after Visual Concepts teamed up with 2K Sports. Visual Concepts called the series World Series and ESPN Major League Baseball in years prior to 2005.

In 2014, 2K games announced that the series had been discontinued, following the release of 2K13.

2005

The first edition of the series, powered by ESPN. The game included Web Gems instant replays, K-Zone pitching, Slam Zone hitting, and baserunner mode. The game was released in late February 2005 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. The cover baseball player was Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. Later that year, World Series 2K5 was released during the 2005 MLB postseason.

In 2005, in response to EA Sports' exclusive license with the National Football League and ESPN prohibiting any NFL 2K games for the foreseeable future, Take-Two Interactive signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball (MLB), MLBPA and MLBAM to produce MLB games. The agreement, which runs from Spring 2006 to 2012, allows for the console manufacturers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to produce MLB titles for their respective platforms, but bars third party developers such as EA Sports from continuing or developing their own MLB games.