NBA Playgrounds

Saber Interactive · Mad Dog Games, LLC

Released: May 8, 2017
Platforms
Last updated: 15 Sep 2026, 06:22 GMT

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11 posts

04 Oct 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.4
More players incoming. The new content update for NBA Playgrounds is here. Thanks for continuous feedback and support. You Rock! See you at the Playgrounds. New Features: Added: New players join the roster The following players were added: Boris Diaw, Dennis Schroder, Artis Gilmo
More players incoming.
The new content update for NBA Playgrounds is here.
Thanks for continuous feedback and support. You Rock!
See you at the Playgrounds.
New Features:

Added: New players join the roster

The following players were added: Boris Diaw, Dennis Schroder, Artis Gilmore, Bob Lanier, Bobby Jones, Cliff Hagan, Dave Cowens, Dave DeBusschere, Dennis Johnson, Hal Greer, Sam Jones, Sidney Moncrief, Tom Heinsohn, Evan Fournier, Cody Zeller, Wesley Matthews, Kent Bazemore, Ryan Anderson, Amir Johnson, Rodney Hood, Clint Capela, Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Thaddeus Young, Marvin Williams, Al-Farouq Aminu, Tim Frazier, Marcin Gortat, Jae Crowder, Sean Kilpatrick, Malcolm Brogdon, Pascal Siakam, Isaiah Whitehead, Andrew Harrison, Willy Hernangomez, Rick Fox, Danny Manning, Cedric Ceballos, Bill Cartwright, Doug Collins, Derrick Coleman, Sam Cassell, Phil Jackson, Jalen Rose and Jamal Mashburn.
The following 15 players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Jerry Lucas (Cincinnati Royals), Chris Webber (Sacramento Kings), Detlef Schrempf (Seattle Super Sonics), Mugsy Bogues (Washington Bullets), Dikembe Mutombo (Atlanta Hawks), Elvin Hayes (Houston Rockets), Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Tracy McGrady (Houston Rockets), Larry Johnson (New York Knicks), Larry Nance (Phoenix Suns), Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati Royals), Pete Maravich (Atlanta Hawks), Robert Parish (Boston Celtics), Steve Nash (Dallas Mavericks) and Tiny Archibald (Boston Celtics).
The following 5 Playgrounders join the Playgrounders team: TmarTn2, MaxBlack, Nickthebullsfan, Goodgamebro and KYR SP33DY.
Bugfixes

Fixed: Tournament matches giving less experience than they should both the first time they are completed and when they are replayed (first time gives more).
Fixed: Various localization issues.
Fixed: Some uniforms had inconsistencies.
Original post
29 Sep 2017Announcement
Daily Deal - NBA Playgrounds, 50% Off
Today's Deal: Save 50% on NBA Playgrounds !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Sunday at 10AM Pacific Time
25 Jul 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.3.0
Hot Summer, Great Fans, Hot Update. The new content update for NBA Playgrounds is here. Thanks for continuous feedback and support. You Rock! See you at the Playgrounds. New Features: Added: New players join the roster The following players were added: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, R
Hot Summer, Great Fans, Hot Update.
The new content update for NBA Playgrounds is here.
Thanks for continuous feedback and support. You Rock!
See you at the Playgrounds.
New Features:

Added: New players join the roster

The following players were added: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Rick Barry, Tim Duncan, Brandon Jennings, Brandon Knight, Deron Williams, Derrick Favors, Gerald Green, Iman Shumpert, Jeff Green, Josh Richardson, Kenneth Faried, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Khris Middleton, Michael Carter-Williams, Mike Miller, Timofey Mozgov, Trevor Ariza, Tristan Thompson, Tyson Chandler, Bob Pettit, Jerry Lucas, Lenny Wilkens, J.R. Smith, Danny Green, J.J. Redick, Wilson Chandler, Alex Len, Dario Saric and Baron Davis
The following players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Chris Paul (New Orleans Pelicans), Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks), Ray Allen (Boston Celtics), Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls), Tim Hardaway (Golden State Warriors), Scottie Pippen (Houston Rockets), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns), Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns), Jason Kidd (Phoenix Suns), Grant Hill (Phoenix Suns), LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Blazers), DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Wilt Chamberlain (San Francisco Warriors) and Vince Carter (Toronto Raptors)
The following Playgrounders join the Playgrounders team: Ian Eagle, EJ “The Mayor” Johnson, Agent 00, Shake4ndBake and HipHopGamer
Added: Friends’ invitation system
Added: 1 vs. 1 Unranked matches (in all game modes), using the matchmaking algorithm, but players don’t risk losing any ranking points or changing their ELO
Added: 3-Point Contest

A new way to compete online. Challenge your opponent to find out who can hit the most 3-Pointers
Added: A short steal and push protection when changing characters was added for the Client player in an online match to reduce the Host advantage
Notable Changes:

Adjusted: Pushes are no longer effective once the shot attempt is made and the player jumped.
Changed: The difficulty of the tournaments was reduced
Changed: The lightning ball can now be blocked by a player just like any other shot
Changed: The experience gain during the tournaments was increased and slightly decreased for online matches.
Improved: The rebound system was reworked and improved to better reflect the intended game style and to make it understandable
Notable Fixes:

Fixed: Several issues that caused Desyncs during Online Game Sessions
Fixed: An issue that could prevent a player from joining an Online Match after aborting a former matchmaking search right after it succeeded
Fixed: Height and Weight stats of the Playgrounders in the metric system
Fixed: An issue that could freeze the game, after winning the Tokyo tournament
Original post
14 Jun 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.2.1
With this update we release a fixes for a few technical issues we saw after the latest patch release. Notable Fixes Fixed: An issue that prevented some users in rare cases from progressing through the tournaments Fixed: An issue where one player jumped out of the court and the ma
With this update we release a fixes for a few technical issues we saw after the latest patch release.
Notable Fixes

Fixed: An issue that prevented some users in rare cases from progressing through the tournaments
Fixed: An issue where one player jumped out of the court and the match could not be continued
Fixed: An issue where a user with too many unopened packs could end in an endless loading screen
If you're experience any technical issues, please send us an email describing your problem to [email protected]
Original post
12 Jun 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.2.0
Welcome to the Playground, welcome to Chicago and Madrid. With this patch not only do 35 new NBA players join the roster, but also 5 Youtubers are gearing up to enter the playground. Along with the new players, we have also added two new playgrounds and four new tournaments. In a
Welcome to the Playground, welcome to Chicago and Madrid.
With this patch not only do 35 new NBA players join the roster, but also 5 Youtubers are gearing up to enter the playground. Along with the new players, we have also added two new playgrounds and four new tournaments.
In addition, we continue to improve the game and we’re looking forward to seeing you on the playgrounds.
You rock!
New Features:

Added: 35 new players join the roster

The following players were added: Ben Wallace, Bernard King, Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, John Havlicek, Julius Erving, Kevin McHale, Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson, Andre Iguodala, Bismack Biyombo, D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Justise Winslow, Kyle Korver, Manu Ginobili, Nick Young, Robin Lopez, Serge Ibaka, Tyler Johnson, Adrian Dantley, Arvydas Sabonis, Bob Cousy, David Thompson, Larry Nance, Mark Price, Detlef Schrempf, Wes Unseld, Lou Williams
The following players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Lebron James (Miami Heat), Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), James Harden (Oklahoma City), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Gary Payton (Seattle Sonics), Shawn Kemp (Seattle Sonics), Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics), Alex English (Dallas Mavericks), Walt Frazier (Cleveland Cavaliers), Clyde Drexler (Houston Rockets), Alonzo Mourning (Charlotte Hornets), Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets)
Added: The Seattle SuperSonics and Playgrounders were added to the team selection
Added: 5 Playgrounders, this time famous YouTubers, join the roster as “The Playgrounders” in red card packs

iMAV3RIQ, iPodKingCarter, QJB, Troydan, and DenkOps
Added: The playgrounds Madrid and Chicago are now available
Added: You can now play tournaments in Venice Beach, Seattle, Madrid and Chicago
Added: New Dunk, Crossover and Finger Roll animations were added
Added: New Ball styles can be unlocked in the tournaments
Notable Changes:

Adjusted: Now when the time of the match reaches zero and the ball is still in the air the match won't end until the shot is resolved (either by scoring or failing).
Adjusted: the penalization received from disconnecting from matches has been increased. Now the user loses more ELO points and the progression grows faster.
Changed: Actions from teammates count now towards finishing the tournament challenges
Improved: The patch system for Steam to support smaller patches
Improved: The execution time for throws was reduced
Reduced: The probability of receiving duplicates in card packages
Notable Fixes:

Fixed: The visual effect when leveling up was corrected
Fixed: Some miscalculations in shot attempts with long animations regarding their success chance were corrected
Fixed: Some issues in the matchmaking were fixed which caused that players were unable to join the matchmaking when a former online session was not closed properly
Fixed: An issue that prevents the user from canceling a match made via Challenge Code by using the ESC key
Fixed: An issue that froze the input, when the application focus was changed with Alt+Tab while the exit message from the game was shown
Fixed: An issue that prevented the user from using a controller to modify the challenge code
Fixed: Some issues related to the random selection of players and the rule that prevents the picking of the same players twice for the same team.
Fixed: Some Legendary and Epic players didn’t have the correct background.
Fixed: The loading screens with the control scheme and the explanation of the shot meter were not rotating as intended
Fixed: Some commentator lines were triggered at the wrong moment
Fixed: Some issues related to the audience and its appearance were addressed
Original post
26 May 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.1.2
Thanks for all your feedback regarding the last patch. We really appreciated and we´re releasing this patch for the weekend with some improvements we made based on your feedback. We know that the patches are quite big at this point due to some technical limitations. We´re working
Thanks for all your feedback regarding the last patch. We really appreciated and we´re releasing this patch for the weekend with some improvements we made based on your feedback.
We know that the patches are quite big at this point due to some technical limitations. We´re working on a solution to create smaller patches in the future.
Thanks again for all your great feedback. See you on the playground.
Notable Changes:

Added: A loading screen with the explanation of the new Shot Meter and how player stats define the success ratios for the scoring action.
Added: 5 new dunks were added to the current set.
Adjusted: The steal action has been re-balanced based on your feedback to better fit the intended gameplay. Overall, succeeding with a steal action became harder.
Adjusted: The 3 pointers were adjusted so that players with good stat have an increased chance to score whereas the chance to score for players with low stats was lowered.
Changed: The card background of Epic and Legendary cards are now silver for Epic cards and golden for Legendary ones.
Changed: The number of steals needed for the Las Vegas challenge Nr. 2 was reduced to 6 (was 10).
Changed: The number of steals needed for the Shanghai challenge Nr. 3 was reduced to 4 (was 7).
Changed: A team can only include each player once; it is no longer possible to have a team with the same players
Changed: Shaquille O´Neal chance to score a 3-pointer was drastically reduced
Notable Fixes:

Fixed: An issue that allowed multiple options to be selected at the same time in the Options Menu was fixed.
Original post
24 May 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.1.1
We're releasing this patch to address some of the issues we saw following the release of patch 1.1.0. We also added the option to hide the shot meter as it was requested by many of you. Notable Fixes: Added a percentage of success to the shooting attempts according to the stats o
We're releasing this patch to address some of the issues we saw following the release of patch 1.1.0. We also added the option to hide the shot meter as it was requested by many of you.
Notable Fixes:

Added a percentage of success to the shooting attempts according to the stats of the player

The Shot Meter now has a gradient color to indicate the chance of success based on the various factors that influence the attempt (such as distant and stat of the chosen player)
Added the option to toggle on or off the Shot Meter in the Options Menu
Balancing and general improvements
Localization fixes
Thanks for your support.
Original post
21 May 2017Developer post
NBA PLAYGROUNDS Update 1.1.0
Many thanks for the continued support! We have the best players in the world and we are privileged to serve you. Update 1.1.0 for PC/Steam brings the heat! Challenge your friends, enemies and other players online. Game on! Friends matchmaking is here. With the new Challenge featu
Many thanks for the continued support! We have the best players in the world and we are privileged to serve you.
Update 1.1.0 for PC/Steam brings the heat! Challenge your friends, enemies and other players online. Game on! Friends matchmaking is here. With the new Challenge feature, you’ll be able to directly challenge another player to a game on the Playgrounds. All you have to do is agree on a code, open the online mode, switch to Challenges, enter that code and face each other.
Other additions include a new connection manager, which monitors the connection of players during ranked matches and penalizes disconnections from games that are made to avoid losing. Quitters never prosper on the Playground.
In response to great feedback, we’ve also tweaked the entire shooting system from jump shots, to threes, to dunks, layups, and everything in-between. We’ve redone the timing, added a meter, and clarified the entire system. Keep those comments coming!
As a big thank you to our rabid fans, we’ve also added 15 new players, including Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman! Those two all-stars and 13 others can be unlocked regularly through player packs, earned during the tournament or when leveling up your profile.
Thanks again for all your great feedback and support. Update 1.1.0 is the beginning. We’re only days from launch and we’re already making the game better thanks to your feedback. You rock!
New Features:

Added: The Challenge Mode feature, which allows you to challenge other players to online matches

You can now switch between unranked challenges and ranked games in the online mode
To challenge another player, you must switch to the challenge mode in the online menu and define a challenge code. By default, your challenge code is your nickname, but you can change it to your own, personal code. The person you are challenging must enter your code.
If you have been challenged, please enter your challenger’s code and press “Accept”.
All challenges are unranked and your ranking/ELO will be unaffected by the results of the challenge.
Added: Toxicity system/Disconnection Manager, which penalizes players who abandon matches in any other way than surrendering
Added: 5 new versions of Shaquille O´Neal in various teams from his career (Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic)
Added: 15 new players join the roster

The following players were added: Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Giannis Antetokoumnpo, Kenny Smith, Gary Payton, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Tony Parker, Kemba Walker, Seth Curry, Tiny Archibald, John Starks, Tracy McGrady, Pete Maravich
Added: A shot-meter was added to help finding the perfect timing for shots, dunks etc.
Added: Steam Cloud Save support
Added: Steam Big Picture keyboard management
Notable Changes:

Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations
Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted further to better fit the intended gameplay

It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent
Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar
Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased
Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)
Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the game
Notable Fixes:

Fixed: Issues related to the strength of the force feedback effects were addressed
Original post
12 May 2017Developer post
Patch 1.0.3
We are so thankful for all the support we’ve received at launch. Even though we only released earlier this week, we made a commitment to support NBA Playgrounds aggressively post-launch, patching as often and as meaningfully as we could. With this first patch we are proud to kick
We are so thankful for all the support we’ve received at launch. Even though we only released earlier this week, we made a commitment to support NBA Playgrounds aggressively post-launch, patching as often and as meaningfully as we could. With this first patch we are proud to kickoff the continuous improvement of our game. Even though this first patch is comparatively small and may not address everyone’s comments, know that a much more comprehensive update is already in the works.
Thanks again for all your great feedback and support. You rock!
Notable Improvements:

Added ‘International English’ with metric units as a default language in case none of the supported languages is the user’s system language
Adjusted timing for layups and 2-pointers from under the hoop. Layups are now easier to perform, and players with low stats for 2-pointers are slightly better than before
Adjusted the steal action to better fit intended gameplay
Changed the Stars Lottery Pick so that it can only be awarded, if a team is at least 6 points behind
Improved the frequency of catching a ball while in mid-air
Improved the online matchmaking algorithm
Increased the duration of the 3 points x2 Lottery Pick
Reduced the duration of the Stars Lottery Pick
Notable Fixes:

Fixed an issue that prevented settings from being saved when leaving the options menu. (This includes fixing an issue that prevented audio settings from being saved)
Fixed an issue that occasionally caused the ‘Lighting Ball Lottery Pick’ not to score from longer distances
Fixed a misspelling of a player's name
Fixed several localization related items and enabled Steam’s language panel in the game’s properties to change the game’s language. The languages available are: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese
Fixed an issue that prevented users from seeing off-screen markers sometimes
Fixed UI resizing issues in 1280x720 resolution
Fixed issues related to key bindings in the Options Menu
Fixed an issue that prevented the ‘Q’ key from showing the Challenges of each Tournament Round
Fixed several desynch issues in bad network connection scenarios
Fixed a problem where a dunk could score after the match ended
Fixed a problem where certain menus could be skipped on PC without user input
Fixed several problems that made the ball getting stuck on the top of the backboard
Fixed a problem that prevented the ball from spinning after scoring
Fixed a problem in which failed dunks could score if the teammate was performing an alley oop
Original post
09 May 2017Rock, Paper, Shotgun
NBA Playgrounds now slamming and jamming
Arcade basketballing is now drooling on PC in NBA Playgrounds , a 2v2 slammer jammer boom shaka-laka-laka boom shaka-laka-laka-er. It’s a little bit NBA Jam, a little bit NBA Street, a little bit… it’s arcade basketball, yeah? NBA Playgrounds is made by Saber Interactive, the gan
09 May 2017Product Release
Now Available on Steam - NBA Playgrounds
NBA Playgrounds is Now Available on Steam! Classic NBA arcade action is back! Take your A game to the playground and beat the best in high-flying 2-on-2 basketball action. Practice your skills offline, play with up to three others and take your talents online to posterize your op