At least for one day, the customer was totally right - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

At least for one day, the customer was totally right Stuck

Posted on September 28, 2010 at 12:20 AM.

(41)

It all started here on OS.

One could argue the revolution began on this very blog space, but let's be honest: it wasn't just me. It was the videos by the basketball faithful on YouTube, including the viral 500k Elite Jesus video. It was the outcry on various forums.

It was the consumer with a voice louder and clearer than it's ever been.

"This product is crap, and we demand something better."

While I can't pin down when the decision to 'delay' Elite 11 was made, I'm betting the decision was made early Monday morning in a board room full of executives with looks on their faces which resembled deer in headlights.

But that's not the story here -- at least not tonight.

The story today at least, is that the customer finally won triumphantly in the sports gaming realm. We aren't here to be messed around with, and when you release a product that isn't up to par we aren't taking it. The customer knows when we see a piece of crap sitting on the store shelf for $60. That's a lot of money.

We know highway robbery when it's apparent.

And for at least one night, the customer is indeed 100% correct. You can say sports gamers just let EA know what they already did deep down: release a product which is just atrocious and see your basketball dreams die a very painful and lonely death.

It also confirms our suspicions that EA is panicking. How much more erratic can you get than getting the disks prepped, shipped, and moved only to decide that you just spent millions on the biggest compact-disk recycling project in history?

If anything, 2K has to be enjoying this show. Because no matter how anyone who might still be holding onto the EA basketball flag today spins it, this is nothing less than a full fledged retreat by EA. They knew they were beat in every facet and not only a retreat and regroup was necessary, it was the only choice other than full on basketball cancellation.

Let's just hope EA does the right thing and releases Elite 12 instead of Elite 11 as a stopgap around playoff time -- but more on that in a blog tomorrow.

Because today is about us, it's about the consumer, it's about being proven that we have a voice and that if something is so egregiously wrong -- we can make something happen. This may become a new trend, it might even set off a revolution in sports gaming development cycles.

But for the rest of the night, let's just relish in the fact that the consumer was heard loud and clear and EA listened -- no matter if was due to necessity or simply out of convenience.

Power to the consumer OSers, we made a difference today.

Chris is the Executive Editor of Operation Sports and maintains this blog on the site. He is also a native Oklahoman and avid storm chaser. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisSnr.

Comments

# 16 Jakeness23 @ Sep 28

Wow that was a great article. I agree with you 100%. I guess they're taking a page out of 2K's handbook by LISTENING TO THE FANS. That's the reason 2K is #1 and will probably stay that way because this year A LOT of the things they put in, was posted on the wishlist thread on OS. Not to mention how many fans they won over from EA. In fact, we just may be witnessing the death of EA basketball.

# 17 bmgoff11 @ Sep 28

no u havent witnessed the death they have enough resources and money to put out bball ames every year// but u did witness the start of consumer demands being heard

# 18 kbomb1upc @ Sep 28

EA didn't pull Elite because they were trying to pull the wool over our eyes they didn't release it because they were too ambitious. They tried to recreate a game with unproven software (real time physics) in one year. I give them credit for trying it because most people wouldn't but there just wasn't time this year. I really hope this and what the UFC 2010 development team did can spark the sport gaming industry to go to 2 year releases. It’s just so hard to cram everything into a yearly release. I hope this really makes people think.

# 19 tabulaRasa @ Sep 28

Littman owned the NHL license, but maybe basketball isn�t his thing.
EA probably thought their brand was strong enough to fool all the NBA fans.
2K is getting bigger and better, and NBA2k is a stong brand among NBA fans it seems. EA has sold well before without having the better game, I guess they hit the wall this time.

# 20 CashmanJones @ Sep 28

Cosign on the blog but only to an extent. While elite got delayed due to the product being poor and the negative feedback because of it, its not as severe as some of you make it. The direction they went in was for the hardcore gamer not the ****** gamer therefore they knew if the game was not good then they couldn't release because the people they made it for wouldn't support it.

Sure this is a "victory" for the consumer so to speak, but i bet at least half the thought that went into delaying the game came from EA themselves as well as they are trying to do something to revamp the genre like NHL yet the vision has come far enough along to release yet. This delay will be the equivalent of the NHL team skipping NHL 07 and going straight to 08

# 21 cuzzo @ Sep 28

now that 2k fan boy got his wish if 2k11 DONT SELL 10 million copies or fix their garbage servers(not buying till christmas time cause the true value comes around 29.99 wal-mart black friday) they'll be a **** fail

# 22 chunt04 @ Sep 28

Preach Brother Preach! Great article.

# 23 welcome2jungle @ Sep 28

im hearing their server situation is gonna be on EA's level

# 24 rudyjuly2 @ Sep 28

Great comments Ryan. The decisions regarding an EA basketball game need to be made by basketball people targeting basketball gamers. Not a suit trying to chase sales dollars by making decisions in a vacuum.

# 25 Beastly Wayz @ Sep 28

# 1 #1^2kgamer @ Sep 27 (10 Hours Ago)
#Co-Sign this entire post

I second this notion, excellent blog, and an even better move by EA. Now let's see how they handle this Delay......and see if the final product is even worth putting out.....

Hopefully next step for EA, is fixing the issues with Madden - ( I can still pray, right? )

# 26 Chef Matt @ Sep 28

Great comments all around. Nice read. It is nice though to see how this has played out and will continue to play out as we move forward.

# 27 jestep123 @ Sep 28

I still contend that these controls should have been tested on an NCAA game. NBA Elite is delayed because the game did not live up to standards set by previous Live games (some bad but most good). The standard for NCAA games is not as high and fans want a game with their teams Jersey and arena in the game. The control scheme would have refreshed a franchise that was obviously struggling IMO. The graphics would not have had to have been great, drop the price point $10, give folks an updated college game and see how we respond to the controls because, in my mind the control scheme was fantastic. It was the implementation that was less than steller.

# 28 rudeworld @ Sep 28

I would love to get my hands on a copy of this though....Imagine what it will be worth in a few years on EBAY?....but really this game demo was terrible and didn't even warrant a second play... I would have deleted it from my HD but i need a lol every now and then....

# 29 Drix10 @ Sep 28

I love what is being said here, but here is the fact:
EA only postponed Elite due to the beast that is coming, 2K. With all the great features, Jordan, and a great demo, the EA execs knew Elite would be doomed. If the 2K product wasn't looking so strong, I think they would have launched on schedule. Look at Madden. How many garbage years have they had? They launched, no competition. They knew it would make money hands over fist. If there was no 2K, you would be seeing Elite festering on the shelves in October. And people would buy it. Fact.
It's all about the money people, not the consumer.

# 30 joshtree14 @ Sep 28

watch, now ea will stop providing demos of games so this doesnt happen again

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