NBA 2K is a basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega Sports. The first installment of the titular video game series, it was initially released for Dreamcast in 1999. Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers is featured as the cover athlete. The game is based on the National Basketball Association and, as such, allows the player to compete in basketball games with the current NBA season's players and teams. Several game modes are present, including one in which the player can create customizable players. NBA 2K was well-received by critics, who praised it for setting the standard for basketball video games. The original NBA 2K spawned numerous successors, the first being NBA 2K1, which was released in October 2000.