In a big shakeup for licensed sports games, 2K Sports has partnered with independent developer HB Studios to publish the Canadian developer's The Golf Club 2019. Back in May, HB announced a deal with the PGA Tour to bring some licensed courses (but not players) to the Golf Club franchise for the first time in the new game. With six official PGA Tour courses in the game and a career mode spanning Q-School through the PGA Tour, this represents a big profile boost for the franchise. Now, that profile gets even bigger with 2K's involvement.

The Golf Club 2019 is available digitally today, August 28, on PS4, Xbox One and PC; a physical edition is due to launch this fall. GameSpot has spent around 20 hours playing the game so far, and our review will be up soon once we can test the retail servers.

2K Sports already dominates one sector of the sports game market with its industry-leading NBA 2K series, which is developed by Visual Concepts. Studio president Greg Thomas said of the new partnership with HB, "With a solid foundation and talented team in place, we're eager to leverage our collective strengths and make a notable impact for golf and simulation sports enthusiasts everywhere."

HB CEO Alan Bunker said in his own statement, "We couldn't be happier to align with 2K and the PGA Tour to share our passion for golf and sports simulation gameplay with franchise enthusiasts and newcomers worldwide."

This is a big move for golf games, as EA Sports once dominated the video game golf genre with its series of Tiger Woods titles. However, EA eventually lost Woods as a title athlete, and franchise went on a mini hiatus before getting resurrected in 2015 with a new game called Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. The game received generally poor reviews, and EA never released another major golf licensed home console game. Rory McIlroy PGA Tour has since been removed from digital marketplaces, in what appeared to be a move tied to HB getting the PGA Tour license. Despite that, EA maintains that it continues to have a relationship with the PGA Tour in some capacity.