Two Romain College graduates, Shawn DeWitt M鈥�19 and Matt Ellis 鈥�14, computer information systems, used an entrepreneurial mindset to become successful video game content providers in the NBA 2K world. As the name implies, NBA 2K is a series of basketball simulation video games that has been around since about 1999.听 Their聽portal uses automated samples and scripts that聽deliver聽data and statistics to subscribers聽wanting to up their game and聽become聽better聽virtual basketball聽players. DeWitt聽said they started out doing everything manually, but through increasingly complex technology, they were able to remove all variables and human error from the process. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 seeing much return in the first 18 months or so. But we stuck with it, and eventually it paid off.鈥�
According to聽, there are an estimated 1.6 million people聽who play daily. Now in its 22nd聽version,聽NBA 2K appeals to anyone from casual聽gamers and聽their buddies to professional players drafted for聽NBA 2K League teams. The salaries and perks can be quite lucrative for those drafted. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of money on the line for these players,鈥� said聽DeWitt, 鈥渟o there鈥檚 a lot of incentive for young players who are pretty good at this game to want every advantage they can find.听So聽they use our website聽and聽YouTube channel聽to try to better their chances to get into that league.鈥� Several NBA teams have a virtual team through the NBA 2K League, and the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards use NBA2KLab data for team strategy and player analysis. 鈥淭he Wizards are the team that just won the finals, we won in our first season with them. They do most of the work there, but we do get to claim a tiny share of the credit,鈥澛燚eWitt聽said with a laugh. NBA 2K got a lot of exposure early in the pandemic. It was broadcast regularly on ESPN2 and filled a void as聽many聽other sports were suspended.
Their聽entrepreneurial聽venture coincided with聽their business聽education at Romain College.听While in Dr. Jack Smothers鈥� 611聽Leadership Skills and Organizational Behaviors class, DeWitt worked on a basketball-related app聽and a business model for advertising聽it. Next聽up聽was Dr. Jill聽Oeding鈥檚 618 Business Law聽class in which students聽studied聽forming聽their own company and about聽LLCs and S Corps.听鈥淲e were doing those same things as we were聽forming our own company. It lined up very nicely as I was taking classes,鈥� he said. Ellis said聽CIS聽classes help him with database work and data analytics.听 Another member of their team聽and聽a聽Romain College alumnus, Matthew Notter聽'19, computer science, has been instrumental in taking the automation of data to a new level. They also have people dedicated to research and development and to the聽.听
NBA2KLab currently has more than聽215,000 YouTube subscribers, nearly 127,000 Twitter followers and more than 3 million unique website聽visitors. Surrounded by聽an All-Star聽team, DeWitt and Ellis have聽more projects in their playbook.听Their presence inside the NBA 2K聽professional community gives them a natural聽way聽in to expand into other game modes.听In 2021 they hope to launch聽a project that is聽currently in development. 鈥淚t should ideally make us appeal to potentially millions of new customers. We are pretty excited about that one,鈥� DeWitt said proudly.