Did EA Make a Mistake With the Delay of Elite 11? - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Did EA Make a Mistake With the Delay of Elite 11? Stuck

Posted on October 19, 2010 at 05:28 PM.

(11)

It's very possible people have already jumped to conclusions.

"Of course EA didn't make a mistake delaying Elite 11 Chris."

And you know what, I agree with you. I think it was the right move.

However, let's apply some logic and rationale to this debate with a couple tidbits of info and try to piece together just what the future of basketball gaming means.

Let's look at what we know right now:

EA is going to lose big, at least this quarter, on the lack of an NBA Title. Michael Pachter put the pricetag at $60 million for the delay for EA Sports. That's probably pretty solid in terms of numbers, without running them myself. EA obviously thought they'd lose more by actually releasing the game, if not right now then long term. But mistakes are made in corporate board rooms every day.
There's also a hidden cost: The number of people who will abandon your franchise and not come back. From anecdotal reports as well as some figures from places like VGChartz, NBA 2K11 has sold pretty good, and is probably ahead of last year's pace -- but it's not by much. So the early returns are probably mixed on this factor at best.

To me, it looks like EA could be putting themselves in a rather tough position. They can't release Elite 11 without giving up resources and time for Elite 12. They also will be forced to fully eat their losses by canceling Elite 11, which won't be helpful to the ol' corporate balance sheet.

Thus, EA has a rather interesting decision coming up, and I'm sure there is a lot of debate still ongoing as to what to do with Elite (if it's not already been decided behind closed doors). EA can either release Elite 11 and lose time on Elite 12, or they can just keep moving through this release cycle and just keep working towards next year's release -- thus outright canceling Elite 11.

In my opinion, scrapping Elite 11 and moving to Elite 12 is the right decision. It's not as if Elite is going to bankrupt EA, it just might cause a bit of a loss on the stock price.

So that leaves us back to the thought process of was the delay the right decision? With NBA 2K11 selling well, but not clearly outselling last year's effort (at least initially), EA could be dodging a bullet and living to fight another day. The key will be what can they do with an extra year -- assuming that's what the final decision is going to be.

The truth is, EA will force 2K to change how their franchise plays if they can nail the basketball aspect of their game to go along with the physics and controls. There is a lot of potential in the ideas behind Elite, but the game simply needs to play basketball well along with trying to innovate technologically.

However, it all starts with EA making the right decision right here.

Scrap the idea of Elite 11 and move everyone to getting it all right for Elite 12.

Else, you are going to find yourself 5 years behind an opponent which is just getting better with time.

Comments

# 1 fsufan4423 @ Oct 19

This was a no win situation; It would probably have been worse if it was released in the state it was. Atleast they didn't go ahead and charge people $65.00, I least respect them for that.

# 2 Dazraz @ Oct 19

I personally believe that EA had decided that Elite 11 was not going to be released prior to any announcement. However they felt that this was too much of a bombshell to drop so called out a delay instead. Expect EA to confirm cancellation early next year when the dust has settled.

# 3 wxn8822 @ Oct 19

I am always thinking that EA made a right decison. From another standpoint, I even think they are more ambitious than 2K. They try to come up with a big game with real innovative concept and notion. All they need is time.

Just think about it, EA could have polished and make a little bit modification about LIVE10, and they could easily avoid this big economical lost by releasing that LIVE11. The reason why they take risk to overhual the whole system is for nothing but a NEW REAL GAME! Let's wait for ELITE 11 or 12 whatvever.

# 4 H to the Oza @ Oct 20

I dont think people will "abandon" the franchise. They simply want to play the best basketball game out there, only the people who are unaware of the differences between the two games would play Elite. And these people will exist every year. So what im trying to say is, there will always be people playing Elite/Live no matter how poor of a game it is in most peoples eyes.

# 5 rspencer86 @ Oct 20

You sourced Michael Pachter and VGChartz in the same article? You're dead to me, Chris.

Short-term financially it was obviously a bad decision. Say what you will about its quality, Elite would have sold at least a meager amount of copies. Some return on investment is better than $0.

But releasing a game in that kind of shape might have done irreparable harm to the franchise (especially since this is Year 1 of "Elite"). It could have established a perception of poor quality that may have dogged the franchise for years to come.

So, I believe it was the right decision.

# 6 ccoaxum @ Oct 20

I agree that they needed more time and really do not feel like repeating everything that ppl already said on here so im just say what i believe they should do in the long run. They do nd to come out with Elite 11 at least by the All star break, reason: one you don't want to give up on the interest level of the game its self, two giving them just about 2 years to make a game would be putting more pressure on themselves to have the best 2012 basketball game just because you had a long time to work on it. So i say come out with 2011, but lower the price since its late, and its no reason why 2012 shouldn't be ready by the end of Oct(i wouldn't bring it out at the normal date, thats why i said end) since they have all this extra time on 2011. If 2011 is what they wanted it to be then, 2012 should be a breeze to add on. I think should and want to at least show everyone in 2011 version what to expect in the near future of the franchise so this is why it's a must to come out with something before 2012. less pressure, and will help they market in the near future.(just do not sell 2011 for full price period and it all be good)

# 7 rudyjuly2 @ Oct 20

Even without Elite being released it has a horrible reputation. That one video showing the bugs went viral and had over 500,000 views. I think releasing would have hurt future sales but not enough to offset the loss this year although they may recoup that with separate NBA Jam games.

I think most people want to see Elite scrapped altogether and have them go back to NBA Live.

# 8 Indiedog @ Oct 20

IMO this was the right decision IF EA is serious about competing in the NBA market long term. Yes, they will stand to lose money but had they released Elite 11 against 2K11, it would have been more damaging to EA long term.

By sitting out '11 and focusing solely on the '12 game, EA should be able to develop the game that they want. If they try to pump out a "fixed" version to be launched at the NBA All-Star Game in Feb. 2011, they take all of the dev resources that could (and should) be used to make the '12 version.

Also, they will likely need to return to the Live name. The Elite name is forever tainted. It wasn't a strong name to begin with. The Live name has history. Some good, some bad. But it still means something to a lot of the people who buy NBA games.

I don't think NBA Jam is going to generate quite the revenue most believe it will. PLus, NBA Jam is a one time thing. Every subsequent version of NBA Jam that EA tries to release will sell less than the previous one. NBA Jam is not a good long term investment for EA in the NBA space.

# 9 khaliib @ Oct 20

I've been visiting this site for a couple of years now, and for some reason, it's always "next year" when it deals with EA Basketball/Football games. They have yet to put out a game that is fleshed-out in presentation and gameplay. It's always bits and pieces, but nothing that's unique and "Gamer desired".

2k is expanding on their title every year. The depth of this game keeps growing (ability to alter player tendencies/behavior so that they play as in real life. "Crazy") by giving more control to the gamer. It's hard to go from a game that allows you to edit such deep "Gameplay" features to a game that has "too" many editing controls to keep gamer's bound.

If they cancel or don't cancel, they must bring something to the table beyond visual/audio upgrades. Will their basketball game have something that has never been in a video game before or will Live 10 with some changes/additions hit the store shelves?

Since the changes with video game return policies, I've become a rent first gamer, so they're going to need to put something out that's worth $60.

The days of "Hype" purchases for Sports Games are over. No more easy layups!!!

"Video game makers better come hard, because we/gamer's are looking to FOUL who/whatever that comes to the rack...
...Your going to have to earn your money under pressure at the line"

# 10 inkpimp007 @ Oct 21

The mistake was the mess they made of the game and not being honest with themselves in the dreadful direction Elite 11 took.