2K Starts a New Game Studio to Take On EA in Soccer

2K, the company behind popular sports games like NBA 2K and WWE 2K, has announced a new game studio called Small Axe Studios. It is based in the Vancouver, British Columbia area, and its goal is to build 2K's "next blockbuster sports franchise." The announcement came through a LinkedIn post, and the studio's website calls it "a AAA video game studio built to take on the industry's boldest challenges" (2K Studios page).

In the video game world, "AAA" (triple-A) means a big-budget game made by a large team — think of it like a major Hollywood movie compared to a small independent film.

The biggest clue about what the new game might be: 2K's LinkedIn post includes an image of a soccer badge, suggesting Small Axe is making a soccer game that would compete with EA Sports FC (The Verge). 2K has not officially said it is a soccer game, but the image was clearly chosen on purpose.

The studio is led by Aaron McHardy, who previously ran EA's FIFA series — the same soccer video game that became EA Sports FC after EA and the real-world soccer organization FIFA ended their partnership. The Small Axe website also lists other senior team members who worked on the EA FIFA games for over two decades (2K Studios page). So the team making this new game is made up of people who built the very game they would now be competing against.

Small Axe Studios grew out of an earlier project called 2K Sports Lab, which 2K announced in 2023. That project's page said it was assembling a "best-in-class team" in Vancouver to create 2K's next sports franchise (2K Sports Lab page). The careers page lists the studio's location as Burnaby, a city in Metro Vancouver (2K Careers page).

2K already makes sports games: NBA 2K for basketball, WWE 2K for wrestling, and PGA Tour 2K for golf. But the company has no soccer game. In the soccer video game market, EA Sports FC has had no real competition since splitting from FIFA. A 2K soccer game would be the first serious challenger to EA in that space.

The Vancouver area already has many game studios and experienced developers, so setting up there gives 2K access to people who know how to make sports games. McHardy's background and the senior team's years on the FIFA franchise mean 2K is not starting from scratch — they have leaders who have shipped yearly editions of the game they are now trying to beat.

How big of a threat this becomes depends on things we do not yet know: licensing deals with soccer leagues and player groups, the technology behind the game, how long it will take to make, and how much money is behind it. None of those details have been shared. What we do know is that 2K has committed major resources, hired a leader with direct experience in soccer games, and included imagery pointing straight at soccer.

The broader context here is that sports video games have gotten less competitive over the past decade. Exclusive deals between publishers and sports leagues have made it harder for new companies to enter the field, and soccer games have essentially had one publisher for years. A 2K entry would not automatically change that, but it would be the first time a company with 2K's track record in sports games has stepped into the soccer category.

For people who follow the game industry, the takeaway is that 2K is expanding into a new sport rather than just adding to the ones it already covers. The move from the early 2K Sports Lab in 2023 to a fully named studio with a public website and leadership team suggests the project is now in active development. The LinkedIn post describes it as several years in the making, which lines up with the 2023 origin.

What is still unknown is the game's name, when it will come out, or whether 2K has secured the rights to real soccer leagues and players. The studio is hiring, and the jobs page is live. The competitive target is obvious even if the game itself is not yet announced.