EA's Move to Elite Will be a Test of Patience - RaychelSnr's Blog

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EA's Move to Elite Will be a Test of Patience Stuck

Posted on September 3, 2010 at 03:14 PM.

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I'm typically not one to call a game dead in the water a full month before release, and I'm going to try my best not to through the next 300 words or so -- although you could argue I just did.

Back in June, I wrote an article about the move to Elite was a last-ditch desperate attempt by EA to spur sales in the face of an opponent which was beating EA down at every corner.

Because, when you have a highly recognized brand which is 15+ years old, you just don't dump it if things are going well.

And now that we're seeing some gameplay video and some general impressions, I think things might just be worse than I ever thought. I'm not saying people should start piling in the lifeboats just yet, but you'd better be getting in line.

To me, the move to Elite was a move to try to garner some additional buzz to try to make up a huge sales deficit not only with NBA 2K, but with what the series used to garner. It was an odd move considering Live had been steadily improving in quality for a few years up to the point of the name change. In fact last year Live was pretty close to being a very competitive option with NBA 2K in quality, it just got trumped in sales.

The problem EA now has put themselves in is that they need an excellent game to go with the name change and by all accounts, the game very well might have actually regressed this year. I don't think EA is about to cancel the Elite series, but I also don't think fans of the series can rest easy knowing they have a guaranteed game in future years.

The series has seen a marked decline in sales, as they are down almost 75% from their peak back with NBA Live 2005. That is a giant decline, but almost every sports game has seen a decline from previous generation platforms to the current generation -- just NBA 2K has seen a far softer decline.

So my outlook is basically this: barring a disastrous retail life for Elite 11, we will see Elite 12. But unless things turn around, the series is not as profitable as it used to be and I think the suits are panicking at EA.

The real question is quickly becoming not whether Elite 11 can produce quality and sales but rather: can the suits be patient enough to allow the old Live series to be reinvented over a period of a few years?

Either way, this year is almost certainly going to NBA 2K11, and it's not even close.

Comments

# 16 bigsmallwood @ Sep 3

This is unfortunate for fans of the NBA Live/Elite series, but your write up is spot on. 2K has blown them into oblivion this year and not only will it not be close, it is going to be a massacre. 2K puts quality time into key areas of their games. Therefore we see the growth, EA has spent much of the last 7years selling gimmicks instead of creating the masterpiece they were/are capable of. #2K11

# 17 TreyIM2 @ Sep 3

Where to begin and what to say?

I must admit that seeing the gameplay vids, I am a bit appalled. Live 10 was further going in the right direction and even the idea of more control and RTP seemed to be another move in the right direction but to sacrifice so much of the animations which makes b-ball look and feel like b-ball is pretty crazy. This game looks like Sony's NBA series which is now pretty much dead on the PS3, it seems. No game this year and no game last year.
I was questioning Mike Wang's "leaving" EA initially "scolding" EA on their website after the announcement while not really knowing the whole story, only knowing Mike's. Then I started to wonder the possibilities of why he would leave when it started to sound like EA was taking the game in the right direction but when it seemed like all EA could talk about was the controls for a long while then touched on RTP and Real AI with tech vids, a bit, I got very, very skeptical of what the end product would look like.

Now we have vids of actual game play - WTF EA???? I'm pretty pissed but still holding on to the idea of the controls giving me more belief in what they are trying to do. The look may not be so bad once I get a grip on the controller and play the demo but the vids are "very not encouraging".

# 18 mvb34 @ Sep 3

Funny I go on other messageboards I don't see the outright hate like on this board I wonder why!!

# 19 Dazraz @ Sep 4

You hit the nail on the head. NBA 2K is made by people with a passion for the game. ELITE is made by people with a passion for the purse strings.

# 20 theprocess @ Sep 4

Maybe some veil has been lifted from my eyes, but I no longer consider EA a threat when it comes to basketball games. Watching those gameplay videos (no matter how much control I get) does not make me want to buy a game.

Some part of me feels like I will enjoy it, nostalgia mostly because ELITE reminds me of LIVE 05. One step forward five steps back I guess. All this name change gives EA the opportunity to say next year..."Oh well, that was ELITE "an experiment" this year we're bringing things back to the way they used to be we're re-naming the series LIVE."

# 21 tabulaRasa @ Sep 4

The reason EA could stink it out and come out on top with their NHL series reinvention and the stale Madden age, is that those where the household names, the premier IPs of their genre. NBA is differnet , NBA2K is the nr 1 IP and king, and also NBA2K doesn�t stick it out. It will be really hard for EA to have a chance.

# 22 jmo2278 @ Sep 4

Rofl at the spread too thin excuse! Go back to '05 when ea was making all those games plus TWO baseball games, areana football, boxin, golf, NASCAR, hockey, etc. They still managed to make two quality bball and football games! SMH
It all started going downhill when they started playin dirty and tryin to beat the competion with a briefcase instead of the playin field. Now it has all caught up with them and like some one said most of their sports games are at best in an identity crisis or at worst on their death bed.
As a fan since lakers v celtics, it is really sad but like my g'ma used to say, make your bed then lie in it!

# 23 joba78 @ Sep 4

I haven't played an EA bball game in years. This year would have been no different. The writing was on the wall, for me, when EA decided to package NBA Jam in with Elite 11. I can wait for Jam to hit the Marketplace as a standalone download. No way will I artificially pad Elite's sales to play NBA Jam.

# 24 mvb34 @ Sep 4

@ # 24 TheSportsGamer I just don't see how a game can be "dead on arrive" before playing a demo.....

# 25 Conda @ Sep 4

I'm so happy EA didn't buyout Take Two; or the NBA exclusive license like they did with the NFL.

# 26 bmgoff11 @ Sep 4

u guys talk like madden isn't a fun game// no game is perfect and u can't please everyone// idk what the devs are thinking but i would guess they want to make the best game they can make// u never know since the sales have dropped if live they might have taken away some of the funds they use to develop the game//

# 27 jmo2278 @ Sep 4

@32 nobody said madden isn't fun, I enjoyed last years madden as well. The issue that we have is that after almost twenty installments, the game should be ALOT better than what it is currently. After five games on next gen consoles, the the franchise mode still doesn't have half of the innovation as the ps2/xbox version. And as far as live goes, up to this point only 09 and 10 have even been playable. Hopefully elite will be as well but unless the demo blows me away I just don't see it.....

# 28 Onpoint17 @ Sep 4

Thanks for posting this blog. I couldn't agree more and this needed to be said. I think EA has put the nail in the coffin with Elite 11 for the continuation of their basketball franchise. As usual the game didn't live up to the initial hype and actually looks like an embaressment in regard to the robotic and arcade-like player movement. I actually feel sorry for Live/Elite fans this year.

# 29 jmo2278 @ Sep 4

The more I think about it, even though I was a die hard fan o the series, they have had more stinkers than good games!
Lakers v celtics was classic

bulls v lakers was solid

bulls v blazers was atrocious with the slow motion gameplay

NBA showdown was fun but was super arcadey

live 95 & 96 were classic

live 97 was a little shakey but fun none the less

live 98-00 were pretty good

live 01 the first on ps1 was hardly playable

live 02 was horrendous with the rebounding glitch

live 03 was fun but arcadey as well when they implemented freestyle dribbling( sound familiar anybody?)

live 04 was pretty good

Live 05 was classic

live 06 was fun but arcadey with the superstar gimmicks

live 06 on 360 was not too good but I felt lime it was a good foundation for the future the scrapped it to implement the new footplanting tech (sound familiar anybody?) which lead to...

Live 07 the worst of the series and in my opinion the "live killer" as the series has been dead to me since then. I couldn't believe that had the audacity to release that crap and put a 60 dollar price tag on it!

Live 08 & 09 were rehab years trying to recover from 07

live 10 solid title, fun game and a good foundation for the future but was scrapped for real time physics tech( Deja vu all over again)

elite 11 in my opinion they shouldn't have changed the name. Because as someone who has been playing since day one, I have felt guilty the last four years for playin 2k over live. But now since live doesn't exist, I don't have that tugging feeeling at my heart anymore. Once again this demo better be all that and a bag of chips with dip!!!

# 30 10yard-Fight @ Sep 4

After really enjoying Live 10 and having high expectations for Elite, after seeing these latest vids the hype is gone. Ofcourse im still going to check the demo out but I had plans of buying both nba games day one, at this point I doubt I'll do that.

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