NBA Live's Failure: The Reason is Baffling - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

NBA Live's Failure: The Reason is Baffling Stuck

Posted on September 17, 2012 at 03:00 PM.

(62)

How?

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.

Comments

# 16 fluent2332 @ Sep 17

The only shame is this blog. Terrible.

# 17 YoungBuck3 @ Sep 17

If I'm EA, I'm writing off this gen of Basketball games and focussing on the next gen to have something amazing to drop when the new systems come out. Any money spent working on games for this generation is wasted at this point, they lost, they can't recover from here in time, but if they have something awesome to drop when the new wave of consoles releases they can pitch that this is the fresh start. I'm sure if they announce a Live/Elite 14 that 2k will just find something to raise the bar again to ensure they remain in the ditch.

# 18 LingeringRegime @ Sep 17

Worst mistake EA Sports ever made was telling Mike Wang they were going in a different direction. The rest as they say is history.

# 19 bccards13 @ Sep 17

EA has Madden and NCAA Football which are the two highest selling games in the business. What more do you need? If you still are inconsistently making football games why on earth would you try and compete with an established power in NBA 2K? EA needs to cut their losses and stick to improving the games that no one is willing to compete with them at. At least not yet...

# 20 rhein77 @ Sep 17

Paul Pierce looks constipated in the title pic of the blog. But seriously. This is what happen when you get use to resting on your laurels. I grew up playing Live and continued to support live until 2008. I jumped on 2k and never looked back from 2k9 on. This is a cardinal sin that companies will have to learn that you have to continue to strive for excellence. If not... then you will become irrelevant sadly. Live 13... rest in peace.

# 21 jersez @ Sep 17

Come on JayMizzle can't you find a different gif, that ish isn't funny. I've been playing live 10 recently and I see the things that they did right, things that 2k hasn't gotten right. I've been saying this for weeks, I just don't understand why they didn't build off of Live 10, and why they are still trying to prove that the "Elite" way is the future of video game basketball. If they were going to release a 20 dollar game anyway, why not just fix live 10 gameplay issues, update the rosters, give rid of the cartoon look and sell that for 20 bucks. That would have been a great product for 20 dollars. It would have put EA back on the tracks to being competitive. Live 10 imo was the first live game this generation 2k looked at and said we have to step our game up, and they did with 2k11. It's not like EA has never released a good basketball game before, they have and I believe they can, they just need to go back to live 10. It's crazy how two years you can destroy a franchise. Hopefully this isn't the end of Live but if it is then R.I.P

# 22 bxphenom7 @ Sep 17

i don't see why people are surprised at ea's shortcomings. they've been repackaging games and aiming only for profit for a while now. no care or real detail into games whatsoever. i think they've gotten what they deserve and i believe madden is next if they don't stop withholding new additions just to have a reason to sell the next year's game hardly different. nhl has been fine, but they went down this year. ea,at least ea sports, has gradually become less about making quality games. i can see ea sports crashing towards the end of the next console generation. they need to focus on trying to provide the best sports game they CAN every year. they have the money, put in the damn work. it's your job.

# 23 06 finals MV3 @ Sep 17

The only thing this series had going for itself was in my opionion the kicks . Other then that . . .. Um ... . ..

# 24 panthersfanstev @ Sep 17

They've been dropping the ball with Madden for years now, so this is no surprise to me. Big big business and creativity just don't mix well.

# 25 liberaluser @ Sep 17

Live is done now. When sports gaming media publishers give up on you and destroy your product when it's largely their job to make everything into a neck and neck horse race, you know your done for good.

# 26 jreezy18 @ Sep 18

I've been thinking for a while that EA should've just packed it in. Their apparent mindset when it comes to developing basketball really is strange. It's like they're still stuck in the last console generation as far as what basketball gamers think is acceptable.

# 27 Rick_Tha_Rula87 @ Sep 18

NBA LIVE 10 was headed in the right direction. They should revisit that build ASAP.

# 28 BCDX97 @ Sep 18

I thought Live 10 was great. I didn't think the Elite demo was as bad as most people say. But since there seems to be so much pro-2K anti-EA sentiment it's hard to get a reasonable perspective from most folks. 2K is not God and EA is not the devil. I know it's hard for some people to not be one-sided and simple minded these days - especially on the internet. Do they want only one company to make all sports games?

This article was pretty fair, and I appreciate you taking the time to share it. I think part of the problem is EA listening to the vocal angry internet minority. Part of it is them rubbing consumers the wrong way. Mismanagement is also a big issue. If somebody just thinks EA can't make good basketball games and only 2K should ever be allowed to do so and all must worship their games, that sounds fanatical.