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.
# 33
muzik_dude @ Sep 18
This was a horribly written article. To whoever wrote this: Your grammar is bad, and you are not able form & articulate your thoughts well. Please work on writing a better article next time.
# 34
nova91 @ Sep 18
I have to laugh at the current state of Live because they keep saying they welcome feedback and they are taking suggestions, but if they had asked any of their fans prior to the development of Elite they would everyone would have said that Live 10 was the best game they had made in a long time and to develop off of that.
# 35
Championships @ Sep 18
The ball isn't "dropped" til' the year is over and there's no 'Live 13, til then gotta keep waiting for actual game play footage.
# 37
tril @ Sep 18
Part of the problem was/is, that Live really was/is trying to emulate the NBA 2k series. I think they were caught between to mindsets of emulating a superior title and trying to carve out its own nitch.
The "ambitious project" was basically the executives saying give us something on par with 2k or better. The execs clearly see that what 2k is doing with basketball is working, and this ties into my next comment. That's why EA at one point was trying to buy 2k out, that's why they brought in Mike Wang.
This isnt a loss for EA just a huge step back.
The "ambitious project" was basically the executives saying give us something on par with 2k or better. The execs clearly see that what 2k is doing with basketball is working, and this ties into my next comment. That's why EA at one point was trying to buy 2k out, that's why they brought in Mike Wang.
This isnt a loss for EA just a huge step back.
# 38
VUUAASSHHH! @ Sep 18
That's bad for us, bball gamers, because from now on 2K is going to be lazier with NBA 2K franchise due to lack of competition. I still do not get about ppl saying 2K12 is better 2K13... 2K12 was the clearest evidence that 2K kicked off the project Lazy.
# 40
SPRINGS03 @ Sep 19
Yep, EA screwed up(as usual, just look at how fight night 4 and champion were handled). Not too surprised. However, i'm not one to call 2k the God of basketball games(even though i like 2k). IMO they're far from perfect, they're just the best basketball game on a very slim market. They pretty much win by default.
# 42
Romieromeisp @ Sep 19
Its easy to judge a game you have never played. But thats human nature if collectively so many people are negative.towardslive that they have never even played it because they are too busy downing the game. Ive bought 2k thgpast w years and hardly play it yet find myself still playing live 10 and elite 11 which I found on ebay which to me could have been released. The game was solid but the controls were complex and a little ahead of the curve for simple gamers. Ea cover alot of sports titles many of you play today and if it were for ea, 2k wouldnt be possible. Ea paved the way and revolutionized the way we play sports games. To me the graphics looks more real then 2k. Sweat skin texture faces body type are great. Some saybthey are too small but I think 2k models too big and take up most of the floor. And also how you have to string combos together to pull off a simple move.Ea has great responsiveness and feel to the spots titles they manufacture. So to Ea good luck and 2k good luck but im a die hard live fan and hope ea delivers a great way for me to kick ***! Ea! Nba live is back!
# 44
DBMcGee3 @ Sep 19
Honestly, once 2k stole the right stick dribble controls, Live was dead in the water. It was really the only thing they had to lean on as a solid advantage when compared to "isomotion". Even if this game didn't look like total crap, which it does, I'd still be picking up 2k13 because it looks that good. Let's give some credit to the champs.
# 45
gopher_guy @ Sep 19
Can you just write another story so we get that Celtics player's ugly mug off the front page every time I come here? lol
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You touted a company that has proven to not care about competition or you for years. Maybe this will be the final eye opener to some of you EA fanatics such as the OS staff that touted these guys for months after 2K dropped NBA 2K12, all we heard was how 2K was flawed and EA was coming back to make a dent. Pure hating and touting.