NBA THE RUN

About NBA THE RUN

NBA THE RUN is a single player and multiplayer casual sport game. It was developed by Play by Play Studios and was released on June 9, 2026. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Take your favorite NBA stars to iconic streetball courts around the world, in this fast-paced, online 3v3 basketball game. Stack wins, earn cred and become the GOAT of THE RUN. Who's Got Next?

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Reviews

73%Audience ScoreBased on 750 reviews

gameplay68 positive mentions

story6 negative mentions

Fun and addictive arcade-style basketball gameplay that captures the spirit of classic games like NBA Street and NBA Jam.
Distinct player styles and smooth, responsive controls with a solid core gameplay loop that rewards skill and teamwork.
No microtransactions, all unlockables earned through gameplay, and active developer support with plans for future content including legends and new modes.

Lack of single player, offline, and local multiplayer modes limits accessibility and long-term engagement for many players.
Gameplay balance issues with spammy steals, shoving, and overpowered characters causing frustrating matches, especially in solo queue.
Limited content at launch with only a few game modes, roster gaps, awkward camera angles, and technical issues such as crashes and game not closing properly.

gameplay
157 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43% positive mentions, 49% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions
The gameplay of NBA The Run offers a fast-paced, arcade-style basketball experience that is fun, accessible, and nostalgic, with solid core mechanics and smooth netcode enhancing multiplayer sessions. However, it suffers from a lack of depth, limited content, repetitive modes, and some mechanical inconsistencies, such as clunky controls, overpowered spam moves, and awkward shoving mechanics. While enjoyable for casual and team play, the game could benefit greatly from added offline modes, progression systems, and polishing to improve fluidity and overall longevity.
- “Gameplay is super fun, there are some cheesy spam moves that could be tweaked but overall the game feels very nice and a great switch up from the 2k simulation games.”
- “The gameplay is fast, exciting, and easy to pick up, making it perfect for casual sessions with friends.”
- “The gameplay is fun, fast-paced, and easy to pick up while still offering enough depth to keep me coming back.”
- “The biggest issue is that the gameplay isn't complex or skill oriented at all, so losing feels stupid and winning doesn't even feel good.”
- “Controls are clunky, gameplay is boring and unfun, and it's clearly unfinished — like they shipped a beta and called it done.”
- “The movement mechanics feel like trying to run through heavy, wet cement while wearing concrete boots.”
monetization
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16% positive mentions, 68% neutral mentions, 16% negative mentions
The game is widely praised for its absence of microtransactions, offering unlockable content and cosmetics solely through in-game progression, which is seen as a refreshing alternative to the predatory monetization practices common in contemporary sports titles. Players appreciate the focus on gameplay without pay-to-win mechanics or aggressive monetization pushes, positioning it as a fair and enjoyable experience.
- “There are no microtransactions; all shop cosmetics and players are free and well-rounded.”
- “I appreciate that there are no microtransactions or other gimmicky rewards while the gameplay is the focus.”
- “All that said, this is a great basketball game with no predatory microtransactions.”
- “The monetization is pushed aggressively at literally every single menu screen you click on.”
- “It feels incredibly slimy to pay upfront just to be treated like a cash cow for microtransactions.”
- “It took a legendary blueprint that fans have been begging to see revived and stripped away all of its heart, soul, and fun in favor of a cheap, predatory cash grab.”
story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
Users consistently criticize the game for lacking a story or career mode, character creation, and solo/offline play options. Many suggest adding a progression-based story mode, missions, or challenges to enhance engagement and provide more varied gameplay beyond online multiplayer. Including these features is seen as essential to improving the game's depth and replayability.
- “An actual story mode, create a character, more tricks (dribble moves/dunks), more characters, and more game modes could easily take this from a 6 to a 9 out of 10.”
- “I would hope that maybe a story mode or a career mode gets added in future updates (but keep the created player usable only offline because if those demo gods were usable online, then the game would just die fast in my opinion), as well as the possibility of adding NBA legends to the game, as all of those just may solve that issue for a bit and keep the game going for longer.”
- “The ability to create custom characters and an offline story mode, player 1 vs CPU would also make the game better.”
- “Outside of the bare-bones exhibition mode and a highly repetitive campaign with zero story or cutscenes, there is absolutely nothing else to do.”
- “No ranked, no story, just casual multiplayer with 6 rotating game modes... it's boring.”
- “You can't create a player and there isn't a story mode.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15% positive mentions, 70% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions
The music in the game is widely criticized for being generic, unlicensed, and lacking the energetic, streetball vibe expected from the NBA Street-inspired style. Many players feel the absence of a proper soundtrack and immersive audio cues detracts from the overall experience, with some opting to play their own music instead. While the game shows potential, improving the music and audio elements is seen as necessary for enhancing its atmosphere and appeal.
- “Dope soundtrack.”
- “NBA The Run is not too shabby; the game brings back reminiscence of the NBA Street games with the arcade approach, music to vibe with, players with certain characteristics and the announcer for the game right now is a huge win.”
- “Finally, there needs to be sound for the ball catching fire, as well as better effects and music for when you are 'in the zone'.”
- “The marketing team hyped everyone up with a perfect, high-energy trailer song, but then you boot up the actual game and there is zero licensed music—just generic, forgettable background loops.”
- “I would like to recommend the game but I just can't. No campaign or co-op, just 3v3 online solos or squad of three in a tournament style event that locks you into a tournament instead of a single match until you lose or win the finals. The game has potential and I like the gameplay, but the fact that the only option is online play was not what I expected. Also, the soundtrack is trash and takes away from the streetball vibe that NBA Street had. They marketed the game with the 'Mop Ante Up' instrumental, but deliver nothing but generic AI-generated Cisco hold music.”
- “This game has no real music, it’s all just generic background tracks.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55% positive mentions, 30% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions
The game features beautiful and impressive visuals with a praised art style and authentic courts, contributing to a visually stunning experience. However, graphics optimization is lacking, especially on devices like the Steam Deck, and options to customize graphics settings are limited. Despite smooth gameplay at lower settings, this often sacrifices visual quality, leading to mixed opinions on overall graphical performance.
- “Visuals are great, the game looks absolutely stunning and I love having real life courts from around the world.”
- “The art style is gorgeous, the core gameplay feels tight, and the courts look incredible.”
- “A lot of work clearly went into the graphics and gameplay, and the team deserves kudos for that.”
- “Needs more options to tune graphics, not just one slider for everything.”
- “You can get 90fps on low graphic settings but you lose net/rim animations and the game doesn't look very pretty at all.”
- “Game feels super clunky and graphics are bad for a 2026 title, also gives zero training.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44% positive mentions, 23% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions
Optimization for the game is mixed; while it generally runs smoothly and is enjoyable on higher-end specs, there are notable performance issues, especially on devices like the Steam Deck. The game also requires more polish to address bugs, AI weaknesses, and balancing problems that impact overall gameplay stability. Developers are encouraged to improve graphics optimization and in-game performance for a more consistent experience.
- “Game is very fun, runs smoothly and has a great variety of characters.”
- “Optimization is honestly decent; I don't have much to say regarding this with my specs.”
- “The actual gameplay is good—it runs smoothly, feels easy to learn, and is a lot of fun when it works.”
- “The game is poorly optimized.”
- “The game could also use better graphics optimization on Steam Deck.”
- “I really hope the developers fix this optimization issue soon.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability, especially with modes like "be a legend" and randomized mechanics that keep each run fresh and engaging. It is more enjoyable with friends, though users feel improvements such as additional camera angles, offline practice modes, more playable characters, and key bind customization are needed to further enhance the experience. Some bugs are present but do not heavily impact the overall replay value.
- “The "be a legend" mode in Vol II justified the replayability and added so much content to the game.”
- “Every run changing because of the randomized mechanics/modifiers actually gives the game replay value and helps separate it from a lot of games that tried and failed to capture this style before.”
- “It's replayable, fun, and even better with friends.”
- “Needs more camera angles, offline practice modes, more playable characters, etc. It's unacceptable for a game to release without key bind customization as well.”
- “Hopefully the developers can improve upon the game and enhance the replayability.”
- “Buggy graphically, though clean replayable.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 67% negative mentions
The game's stability is generally poor, with frequent bugs, crashes, and freezing issues, especially on the Steam Deck version, leading to frustrating experiences. While it runs smoothly on some PCs, the inconsistent performance and graphical glitches detract significantly from playability.
- “Also, it runs great on my PC. I hope they work on the Steam Deck version, as it wasn't the best experience visually on my Steam Deck and FPS was inconsistent, not reaching 60 FPS.”
- “The price point isn't bad but I can't recommend the Steam version; way too buggy.”
- “The second you boot this garbage up, the frustration hits your face like a brick wall because the main menu alone freezes up constantly.”
- “The amount of XP rewarded after enduring a grueling, buggy match is a literal joke.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is widely seen as tedious and excessive, with unlocks and leveling requiring long hours of repetitive play or reliance on microtransactions. The lack of engaging challenges and reliance on a monotonous battle pass diminishes the enjoyment of earning gear through skillful gameplay.
- “The lack of options makes the idea of grinding for a long time to unlock items in the shop feel like a tiring endeavor.”
- “Instead of earning cool street gear by completing fun, skill-based challenges like in the old days, everything is buried deep inside a tedious, uninspired battle pass.”
- “If you value your sanity and don't want to spend forty hours grinding repetitive matches to get a halfway decent outfit, the game happily reminds you that you can just whip out your credit card.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as fun and occasionally surprising, adding to an enjoyable and laid-back gameplay experience. However, some users feel the game lacks polish, which diminishes its comedic impact. Overall, the humor is appreciated but seen as inconsistent.
- “Extremely fun and chill experience that generates a lot of exciting and funny gameplay.”
- “Steam is a funny place man, it’s the only platform where the reviews on the playtest or demos can be majorly positive and when the full game releases it becomes negative despite being the same product.”
- “Some picks caught me off guard (Amen Thompson being in here made me laugh because I wasn’t expecting it), but overall I like the roster.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game effectively captures a vibrant street and NBA arcade atmosphere with authentic player moves, unlockable content, and visual details, though some feel it lacks true authenticity, trash talk, and soul in its locations. The return of characters like Bobbito enhances the blacktop vibe, hinting at strong potential if content updates continue.
- “For those that want a fun arcade NBA Jam/street style game in today's NBA atmosphere, they bring the street and the NBA players to life perfectly. They have signature moves, specific shot timing, different dunks to unlock, jerseys, taunts, banners, etc. This is just at launch; the game has huge upside if they continue to add content.”
- “Bobbito makes his return and adds to the atmosphere of playing on the blacktop.”