This "mechanic" works the same exact way it did before. They could have added this back whenever they wanted to and it would take five minutes of effort. It's artificial innovation. You take something out, wait a little while, then put it back in and people get just as hype about it as they did before. Think back to 2k15 where they removed nearly every match type, then gradually added them back over the next few years. Then 2k16 was insanely popular partly because HOLY SHIT WE CAN HAVE A REGULAR 1-ON-1 LADDER MATCH AGAIN DUDES #THISISAWESOME. The fanbase of these games THINK they're not just braindead consumers because 2k20 flopped. But now that 2k has recovered from that they've fallen right back in to the same vicious cycle of yearly soulless slop consuming.
