slash178: In 2000 they just said “2k” cuz it was short and sounded cool. Now they don’t want to stop because it’s part of the brand.
tomgabriele: The history of the franchise: they started with NBA 2k, followed it with NBA 2k1, then 2k2, etc. Going from “NBA 2k9” to “NBA 2010” would have unnecessarily removed that branding they had built up for ten years.
Roboman20000: Is not so much about writing as it is reading. Say both of these and see which one feels better:
– the year is two kay seventeen.
– the year is two thousand seventeen.
Almost all of us know that kind is short for thousand so they both work but the first one rolls off my tongue easily where the other one is clunky. That is only my opinion but that’s why I would prefer 2k17 to 2017. Though I do substitute the k in when it’s written 2017.
Concise_Pirate: It has no practical benefit. IIRC, it came from a game where v1 had the title “___ 2k” and for v2 they didn’t want to lose the naming.
jellyman93: Why is everyone assuming this is about a basketball game?
lutgholein: I don’t think it’s done for practical reasons, it’s more for a branding effect. NBA 2K became series, WWE 2K became a series, NHL 2K became a series, etc. The company that bought the publishing rights even named their publisher 2K and 2K Sports for stronger brand association.
buraiha: i think its just something people think is quirky and cool to do
ChuckBoBuck: I’ve been doing this since 1.9k97
nevermour: When I see this sort of thing I think of Star trek where they have long year numbers, it’d be faster to put in a K or whatever when saying the year
JohnLawless: That wouldn’t be nearly as cool lol
lexiember: I just like how it sounds when you read it with the ‘kay’
ThatGuy1150: It’s easier to say 2k than 2 thousand, and writing it just seems more natural than switching back and forth between the two
thatG_evanP: The same reason people say “O.M.G.” when “Oh my God” is just as short to pronounce.
coatrack68: Have you seen ‘2k17’? It’s way more awesome than 2017!!!!! Yeah, I’m just kidding. Had no idea 2k17 was a thing…I’m never going to speak about it again…
pkterror: k is short for kilo which just means 1000,
though I guess that’s not really what OP meant
ky1e0: in the same time* and the same amount of characters
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PeterGabrielsFlute: it sounds cool
paxweasley: it’s a meme, it’s not to shorten things