LeBron not only graced his first video game cover on 2K14, but he also gave us the first physical sneaker to ever be unlocked through video game achievements.
The 2010’s were an interesting time for the world of basketball. From a super team hated by the league, to Nike’s absolutely lights-out run with their Nike Basketball vertical, the NBA was on absolute fire (in more ways than one). Today, we are looking back at one of the biggest moments of that era- and we are doing it with the help of our friends over at EXP.
The time Nike Basketball dropped an outrageous LeBron 11 you could only purchase if you had put in the work on NBA 2K14.
Way before our friends at .SWOOSH were tying the virtual to the physical world, Nike and the team at NBA 2K gave us a LeBron sneaker that was a massive milestone for the world of sneakers. The LeBron 11 arrived around the peak of Nike Basketball’s run in the 2010s. With it came a lot of excitement from sneaker fans… and gamers!
To honor LeBron’s appearance on the cover of NBA 2K14, the special edition of the LeBron 11 was made available to the most dedicated players of NBA 2K14. To unlock the shoe, gamers had to reach several milestones including winning 60 games, earning an elite player ranking, and creating a signature shoe in the Nike Innovation Kitchen. According to Nike and 2K, these feats would take about 80 hours of gameplay.
Introduced in NBA 2K13, Nike’s Innovation Kitchen brought sneaker creation into the world of MyCareer. The incomparable Tinker Hatfield appeared in the game mode to guide you through the design process of creating your very own signature shoe- an absolute dream for sneakerheads and games alike.
With important Nike tech like Flywire and Lunarlon made available, it was clear how invested Nike was in this special partnership with 2K. The point was absolutely driven home with this special pair of LeBron 11s.
The sneaker, which of course was limited to 2014 pairs, was made available to players who met that requirement via a special landing page on Nike’s website. Fans who were lucky enough to score an access code to purchase the sneakers pre-ordered it blind, as no photos of the LeBron 11 2K14 were revealed during the pre-order window. Talk about surprise and delight.
When the sneaker was finally revealed to fans and gamers who were lucky enough to purchase a pair, it broke the internet. Nike Basketball was known for throwing absolutely everything into their colorways. The LeBron 11 2k14 almost featured, well, everything.
The challenge-red upper was vibrant enough, with the gold accents fit for a king fresh off winning Back-to-Back NBA Championships. What made the sneaker the absolute gem, though, were the animal-print details throughout the upper. The vibrancy of the deep red paired with the loud animal print probably shouldn’t have worked, but it did. And it created a sneaker worthy of such a big milestone in the process.
The sneaker finally shipped in March of 2014 and was instantly a grail. Its limited nature helped, of course, but the color-blocking and the circumstances surrounding the launch made the LeBron 11 2K14 one of Nike Basketball’s most important sneaker launches ever. It not only perfectly honored the partnership between 2K and Nike, but it paved the way for some of the aspirational release methods we see today.
Whether that be gamified promotions or pre-order windows, almost every major brand is diving into special launch windows that look similar to the way Nike and 2K handled the release of the LeBron 11 2K14.
The sneaker was a true commitment in all senses of the word. Gamers were rewarded for their hours put in with a rare opportunity to purchase a limited-edition sneaker. They then had to purchase it without seeing the product and wait a bit for it to arrive. The result, though, proved to be worth it. The reward for all those hours grinding MyCareer and the blind faith of a pre-order window granted them the opportunity to own a piece of both sneaker and gaming history.
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