RaychelSnr's Blog
How could EA sports so seriously drop the ball with NBA Live 13?
Why?
Why did EA Sports build from NBA Elite, a failed product when they had a stellar product in NBA Live 10 sitting around as well?
This was project management at it's worst, and this is a Eulogy for EA Basketball, at least for now. You can't make this stuff up, the trailer was horrific looking and we've been dealt another blow in sports gaming with another lost franchise this generation, whether EA wants to admit to it or not just yet..
You can't have two companies make sports games in this generation anymore if one is coming up against an established competitor. Sports games are just too complex, too much detail needed, too much work to accomplish in one year to build a franchise from the ground up and compete with established big boys.
The problem here is course is, EA had two years. And they spent it trying to build from NBA Elite, the game that was so bad it was cancelled versus NBA Live 10, the game that dared to challenge NBA 2K in terms of quality this generation.
Here's the quote from an EA rep as evidence of this approach:
"We're not going to get into that level of detail with this announcement. In early April, you saw where we were with this project and how ambitious it was, that they had to take down the code of Elite and rebuild it. Its easy to surmise that also took time, in the development cycle, to get the whole thing up to speed. It was an ambitious project and it is a challenging game to create."
It seems simple enough: EA mangled this project from the beginning. Had NBA Live 10 been updated and enhanced for the last two years, we would have a very competent game of basketball that could at least challenge NBA 2K13 in some respects, such as online playability.
Instead, EA chose to build from NBA Elite.
And thanks to that decision, EA will not be relevant in basketball gaming for at least 2-3 years, if ever. And in this era of gaming, where we are in the late stages of a console generation and preparing for a switch, it's better to just fold it up and try again on the new generation.
EA, you've lost this one. It's time to give it up and either build for the future console generation or simply yield to 2K's dominance.
What a shame.
# 1
DetroitStyle @ Sep 17
Couldn't agree more, the project management has been an absolute joke. Not only is NBA Live as a brand going to suffer, but EA as company is going to give gamers one more reason not to have confidence in the company.
# 2
willh313 @ Sep 17
They were in trouble the moment Mike Wang went back to 2k Sports. I've been playing Live 10 recently, It was actually a very solid title, perhaps the series best since 05. EA decided it would be a great idea to let all of the go. I believe I remember reading that Wang's whole reason for leaving was the creative direction. Wow, then he leaves and immediately makes NBA 2K11...EA really screwed the pooch on that one.
# 3
marlo stanfield @ Sep 17
People at EA need to hire me. I know what it takes to make a good basketball game. EA got rich off of madden, they need to take some of that cash they made and spend it towards nba live 13. They need to go out and hire the best people available to make this game good. It's sad we only have one basketball game to choose from back in the day we had a few
# 4
SHAKYR @ Sep 17
What EA has been doing lately is not putting the resources in their title they have Pre determined will fail. They don't give themselves a chance of competing or making a great game with a this attitude. I think EA got stuck trying to step away from the arcadey stuff. If you pay attention to the NBA LIVE 13 video they look like glorified NBA JAM players, hence the detailed faces.
EA really seem to fear making some of their titles sim/realism. Mike Wang probably was a medicine they couldn't swallow. They rather struggle to make fans accept something than to make it easy by giving them what they want.
EA really seem to fear making some of their titles sim/realism. Mike Wang probably was a medicine they couldn't swallow. They rather struggle to make fans accept something than to make it easy by giving them what they want.
# 5
cashless @ Sep 17
Even the fact that they changed the title from NBA Live to NBA Elite speaks volumes. They don't know what the **** they're doing over there.
# 7
Cletus @ Sep 17
Management doesn't care about video games, that's why they are in management. The thing is for years people have bought games based on name because the economy was good and there was lots of money to go around. Now there isn't and a lot of companies haven't adapted. EA outside of like 3 or 4 games hasn't pushed the envelope.
# 9
iceberg760 @ Sep 17
wow...LIVEhead growing up (have since switched to 2k) -- blows my mind that EA could fumble/stumble/crumble with this chance...who @ EA thought that Elite in any iteration would work??? again...WOW....
# 10
rockchisler @ Sep 17
I'm not sure how it works but someone mentioned that when Mike Wang worked on the game he was able to keep the intellectual property of what he worked on so maybe they couldn't go back to Live 10 engine.I dont know Im just passing along what I heard.
# 11
1WEiRDguy @ Sep 17
hello NBA Street...its time for that reboot...if they arent going to devote the needed resources to make a game that competes as a simulation title, then just stick to arcade...
but ultimately, as much as I enjoy 2k's games, the ultimate loser is the consumer by having only one choice to choose from...i get these companies arent in the business of losing money, but still...hopefully if this is truly the end of the Live franchise as we know it, lets just hope and pray that 2k doesnt start taking naps and becoming content with the game...we've seen this before with only one company being able to make a licensed football game
but ultimately, as much as I enjoy 2k's games, the ultimate loser is the consumer by having only one choice to choose from...i get these companies arent in the business of losing money, but still...hopefully if this is truly the end of the Live franchise as we know it, lets just hope and pray that 2k doesnt start taking naps and becoming content with the game...we've seen this before with only one company being able to make a licensed football game
# 12
Gramps91 @ Sep 17
Live 10 was a great game. When Elite was supposed to come out it baffled me why they scrapped all the great stuff in Live 10, to produce the load of crap that was Elite 11. After Elite I didn't get my hopes up for live 13. Sure I was hoping for a great game, but I really didn't know what to expect. When the gameplay leaked I just shook my head. 2 years, for this! Building off Live would have been great! I would have bought it. Building of Elite?! What were they thinking?!
# 13
Sundown @ Sep 17
Absolutely agreed. They could have just spent a year polishing the Live 10 code rather than build something from the ground up based on a failed project. The thing is, they still have it sitting around, and all of it is proven to work, including great net code.
They could release Live 10 and just update stats and rosters and it'd still be a better game than "Live" 13. They could even port the models they've already finished for Live 13 to Live 10 if they want it to look like a slightly newer game.
They could release Live 10 and just update stats and rosters and it'd still be a better game than "Live" 13. They could even port the models they've already finished for Live 13 to Live 10 if they want it to look like a slightly newer game.
# 14
DubTrey1 @ Sep 17
Seems as though it took the internal team at least a year or more to debug the code Mike Wang put in and figure out the best path forward. Couple that with internal turnover, development cycle issues and poor internal code support - I figure this is why they never let go of the base code for Elite. Thus, are now living with the consequences of a bad game and unplayable state they are in. I do not believe it is due to EA not caring or having the resources. I think it is pure tech related and not having the right resources plugged into this title. Imagine if that is the reason Wang left to return to 2k? He realized the staff at EA were not competent to develop and source all of the data he was attempting to put in place. My guess -
# 15
marlo stanfield @ Sep 17
My boy p is rolling in his grave. Me and him use to argue about what game was better, now 2k has the market sowed up. He was str8 nba live and i made the switch in 08 to nba 2k and he used to say you playing that brand of ball where your bigs can dribble up the court, but now his fav game is garbage
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