Will College Basketball Return to the Next-Gen Sports Lineup?

Feature Article

Submitted on: 03/29/2013 by Jayson Young

If no college basketball game releases on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, it will mark the first generation of consoles without an NCAA basketball game since the days of the NES, Atari and Sega Master System.

Starting with 1992's NCAA Basketball, multiple college basketball games have appeared in every console generation since the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

16-Bit

Super Nintendo

NCAA Basketball (1992)
NCAA Final Four Basketball (1995)
College Slam (1996)

Sega Genesis

NCAA Final Four Basketball (1994)
Dick Vitale's Awesome Baby! College Hoops (1994)
Coach K College Basketball (1995)
College Slam (1996)

32-Bit and 64-Bit

Sony PlayStation

College Slam (1996)
NCAA Final Four (1997 - 2001)
NCAA March Madness (1998 - 2001)

Nintendo 64

Fox Sports College Hoops (1999)

128-Bit

PlayStation 2 and Xbox

NCAA Final Four (2001 - 2004)
NCAA March Madness (2002 - 2008)
College Hoops (2K3 - 2K8)

Current Generation

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

College Hoops (2K6 - 2K8)
NCAA Basketball (2007 - 2010)
NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition (2009)

College Basketball's Last Dance?

The steady production of college basketball games halted midway through the current generation, as a combination of mediocre sales, expensive licensing fees and rising development costs forced both 2K Sports and EA Sports to retire their collegiate basketball brands.

Sales of NCAA basketball games immediately dropped over 50 percent following the transition from older consoles to the current generation:

End Of Previous Generation

ESPN College Hoops 2K5 (PS2/Xbox) -- 700,000 North American units sold
NCAA March Madness 2005 (PS2/Xbox) -- 650,000 North American units sold

Multiplatform Releases on Current Generation

College Hoops 2K7 (PS3/360) -- 340,000 North American units sold
College Hoops 2K8 (PS3/360) -- 270,000 North American units sold

NCAA March Madness 08 (PS3/360) -- 260,000 North American units sold
NCAA Basketball 09 (PS3/360) -- 330,000 North American units sold
NCAA Basketball 10 (PS3/360) -- 550,000 North American units sold

Only by NCAA Basketball 10 did the genre begin to show any signs of recovery, but due to the inclusion of the CBS and ESPN audio/visual presentation, the added licensing expenses likely offset the game's 40 percent sales increase.

In the previous generation, a quarter-million or half-million units sold might have ensured the continued profitability of EA Sports' college basketball franchise, but with the company now paying fees to the NCAA, ESPN and CBS, those 550,000 copies sold probably were not enough for the publisher to break even.

Does A Buying Market Still Exist?

This year, March Madness' opening weekend averaged a 6.3 overnight television rating, which is the highest rating for the first weekend of play since 1991 -- Nielsen's "overnight" rating equals the percentage of American households watching the game.

"Prime time" tournament coverage running from 5:15 PM to 9:15 PM also was the most-watched since 1991, scoring an 11.8 overnight rating.

By comparison, last year's NBA Finals averaged a 10.1 overnight rating; this year's Daytona 500 drew a 9.9 overnight rating; the 2012 MLB World Series averaged a 7.6 overnight rating.

Ratings-wise, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has become America's most popular non-football sporting event. Clearly, Americans love to watch college basketball in March -- the rest of the year, not so much.

Starting in November and ending in April, college basketball games are televised nightly on ESPN. Non-cable subscribers also have access to weekly Saturday and Sunday games on CBS and ABC.

These regular season games draw much lower ratings, indicating that most Americans only care about college hoops during the season's exciting finale.

Viewership data for the complete 2012-13 season is not yet available, but for comparison's sake, take a look at where college basketball's regular season ratings stood as of 2011-12:

Less than 1 percent of Americans are watching college basketball from November through February. Yet the typical release month for college basketball games remains November, right before the real season tips off, and months before consumers start paying attention to the sport.

Choosing The Right Release Date

NCAA basketball video games typically launch a month after October's NBA video games, and by November, most players have already purchased their one basketball game for the year.

When March finally rolls around, and 6-11 percent of Americans are watching daily NCAA basketball action on TV, those November NCAA basketball games are sitting in bargain bins for $10 to $20.

Ideally, a college basketball video game should launch in February, a week or two after the Super Bowl.

Some benefits of a February launch:

Football, America's dominant sport, is dormant
Conference rivals clash all around the NCAA
Many basketball fans are tired of playing their October NBA video game
Baseball games won't launch until next month
The flood of big-budget holiday releases has subsided

In fairness, publishers have tried launching NCAA basketball games in every conceivable month: October, November, December, January, February and March. Changing the release date has not shown any noticeable correlation to sales numbers.

An argument could be made, however, that the ever-changing release time for college basketball games has hurt the genre's long-term sales, as consumers have no ingrained "yearly purchasing ritual" like they do for Madden NFL or NBA 2K, which continue to launch in the same month, around the same week, year after year.

If Not Retail, Why Not Try Digital?

To their credit, EA Sports did experiment with a $15 downloadable edition of NCAA Basketball 09, published through Xbox Live. The game flopped, currently resting at number 384 on the all-time Xbox Live Arcade sales chart.

EA Sports' digital experiment failed because it cost about the same on its March release day ($15) as a used copy of NCAA Basketball 09, which released in November and was gathering grime in bargain bins by January.

With smarter release scheduling, an à la carte downloadable format could be an interesting way of separating the components of an NCAA game into smaller, purchasable parts, allowing the player to pay only for the modes he or she likes:

$15 -- Offline/Online Exhibition mode all D-I NCAA teams
$15 -- Offline/Online "Big Dance" mode
$15 -- Offline/Online My Player/Team Up Mode
$15 -- Offline/Online Franchise Mode
$45 -- Full Game (Includes all Modes)

Give EA Season Ticket owners a free 48-hour trial for all modes, plus an automatic 10 percent discount, and the company might bring over a few fence-sitters who wouldn't normally consider buying an NCAA basketball game.

For 2K Sports, who already has a fine NBA product in place, their College Hoops brand could return as a downloadable, total conversion mod in the next NBA 2K game. Fan-made college mods remain popular with the PC versions of NBA 2K, so an official add-on from 2K Sports seems like a smart extension of the 2K basketball branch.

2K already offers a discounted "Combo Pack" that bundles MLB 2K and NBA 2K together for $80, so simply swap out the critically derided MLB series for a new College Hoops release and you have a great value to sell to basketball fans.

Arguably, NCAA basketball's days of being a full-priced, $60 retail game may be over, but with some creative thinking, plenty of opportunities remain for collegiate basketball products to bounce back into sports gaming's lineup and take advantage of consumers' March Madness.

Member Comments

# 21 jwtucker710 @ 03/31/13 09:46 AM

I still play CH2K8, and a little of the NCAA Basketball 10, both are decent games if you can get past the dated graphics and player models. NCAA BB 10 is more polished and has the smoother game play, but 2K8 is more realistic in Legacy mode. If I'm not mistaken, you can upload the current college rosters for 2K8, but not for NCAA 10. That said, I do think we will see a new college bb game in another year or two. If EA isn't going to put on their big boy pants and develop another NBA LIVE game, then they should put all their effort into a college basketball sim.

# 22 tbdaniel15 @ 03/31/13 03:25 PM

I really don't care how they would make it happen, just make it happen. Personally, I prefer NCAA Football over Madden because of all the aspects that go into college football compared to pro, such as recruiting, rivalries, rankings, and so on, and I know I know I'm not alone in this thinking. The same thing could be applied to a collegiate basketball game. With the outstanding success of the NBA 2K series, just imagine what a revamped 2K College Hoops game could do in the market. And I know sales have been down in the past, but with this drought without any college basketball games for years, the market would be booming right from the get go (especially if it was from 2K). I know during this time of year I think to myself a lot, "Man I wish i could play some College Hoops 2K13 right now." Bring the series back, 2K! It would definitely be worth the investment to get it started.

# 23 MillerTE92 @ 04/04/13 11:23 PM

I just paid $60.11 for College Hoops 2K8 on Amazon

# 24 King_B_Mack @ 04/04/13 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTE92


	I just paid $60.11 for College Hoops 2K8 on Amazon

You may have gotten robbed.

# 25 USNAggie44 @ 04/05/13 05:04 PM

Unless it was brand new he did get robbed. Got mine with no scratches for 35

# 26 BraveHeart @ 04/05/13 08:43 PM

He got robbed, but this game is definitely worth 60 bucks in my mind. Best college sports game created so far.

# 27 BattleBornLV @ 04/06/13 04:05 PM

I was able to find is used for 15 and gamestop. Just picked up NCAA 10 for 35.

# 28 MillerTE92 @ 04/07/13 02:33 AM

$60.11 was including shipping which was like $10

# 29 MillerTE92 @ 04/07/13 02:33 AM

And I'm loving the game, just finished my 4th season in Legacy Mode

# 30 Stormyhog @ 04/08/13 04:47 PM

Here in Canada I picked up the PS3 version of NCAA Basketball 10 used for $8.99 at EB Games. Saved a buck with my edge card.

# 31 MrMayface @ 04/10/13 10:07 PM

Please 2K! Release a college b ball game. Please. We're begging you.

# 32 strobox88 @ 04/15/13 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_B_Mack


	You may have gotten robbed.

He definitely got robbed. He paid full price for a sports game that came out 5 years ago. It's worth every dime, though.

# 33 BLACKBLOOD84 @ 01/19/14 03:03 PM

i miss creating my friends, picking a terrible team,taking them to #1, winning the tournament 4 years in a row and then draft them!!!! I MISS YOU COLLEGE HOOPS 2K!!!

# 34 24 @ 01/19/14 03:22 PM

I think it eventually will. Wouldn't be surprised if 2k put out a product within the next couple of years.

# 35 AntiBandwagoner @ 01/19/14 05:17 PM

We can only hope that down the road a company (preferably 2k) gets the licensing for a college basketball game. Just one game on next gen and I'll be set.

# 36 youvalss @ 01/20/14 08:44 PM

I think it also depends how much resources are put into it. A game that sells only in North America (seriously, how many gamers care about college basketball outside the US? Not sure if many even care about it in Canada).

If it's a game that takes as much effort as NBA 2K, for example, I can't see it happening. Hell, even at OS - where American sport fanatics live and breath, go back through the basketball hoop games forums, and see many pages you can go back - compared to the NBA 2K/Live forums - it's like comparing the Live forum while there was no game to the NBA 2K forum a couple of weeks before release).

It all depends on how much time/money they are willing to spend, because I think college basketball games can only sell so much - mostly in the US. If they can predict the number of units sold - and it's still worth it, it'll happen.

Next-gen college basketball game.....I'm not much of a college hoop fan, but even I would be excited!

# 37 Noel. @ 01/21/14 01:59 PM

Just the thought of having a College Hoops that is similar to NBA2K14 in gameplay gets me wet, lol.

I think they are halfway done. The most expensive part to develop is the engine and they already got that, and it works swell. They just need to program the modes (which are halfway done as well, let's say they re use most of the code in CH 2K8 for legacy mode), designers to do the jerseys/logos/courts, buy the license, and we are done.

They don't need to re-invent the wheel and they can sell a good amount of copies. I'm not even from the US and I'd buy College Hoops for PS4, I'm not the average foreign gamer tho.

# 38 pr3ston @ 02/04/14 02:57 PM

Quote:


	I think there is a high demand (From the community) in terms of a college basketball game. NCAA Basketball 10 was the last one we had. What makes it worse, is how the teams are changing there jerseys shoes, and styles, the games, soon became outdated.

I think with the DLC content in NCAA Football of jerseys and stuff, they would make money in NCAA Basketball if they did it. Then again, there arent near as much changes in basketball as ther are in football (Oregon, Maryland).

ALSO, side note,

If 2k did a college game, would they incorperate the VC that they do in NBA? I mean its Virtual Currency, kinda the whole Players getting Paid argument. How would you prefer they do that if it were to be different?

# 39 Junior Moe @ 02/13/14 01:42 PM

Right there with you Noel. The prospect of a Next Gen 2K College Hoops game on par with the NBA 2K is tantalizing. I think it could work too. Just use the NBA 2K engine and tailor it to the college game. I understand the trepidation with the NCAA and player likeness lawsuit.

But wouldn't an officially licensed NCAA game released with totally fictional rosters for the current teams protect both 2K and the NCAA? Base the teams off of their real life strengths and weaknesses. Make Duke be Duke with a star freshman forward. But instead of him being a 6'8" 225 pound Black SF#1, he could be a 6'7" White lefty named Anderson Wells. Ditto for all of the other players. Give them a little backstory to sell the fictional players. Its all fictional after 4 years anyway. Give their faces detail and personality. Have some generic "Signature Styles" to choose from. Copy and paste College Hoops 2K8's Legacy Mode and allow players to be drafted to the current and future NBA 2K games in their fully college glory. Looks, styles, accessories, jumpshots and everything. It would infuse life into NBA 2k's Association Mode.

In an effort to make additional revenue (and make online a blast), sell Historic College teams for 3-5$ a pop. Who wouldn't love to take Carmelo Anthony's Syracuse squad online to play against Olajuwon's "Phi Slama Jama"?; or Jordan's North Carolina squad against Michigan's "Fab 5"? Or just play with them in Legacy mode. The possibilities are endless and could generate the necessary additional revenue that all developers want.

Seeing that College Basketball is something of a niche sport, release the game every three or four years. Thereby maximizing profit (and saving development cost) for each release. Just tune the gameplay and and update the fictional rosters annually. Update the presentation and bundle the game with NBA 2K AND sell it solo for 45$. Heck, advertise the game in NBA 2k! I don't know how all of the licensing stuff works but I think 2K could really corner the video game basketball market.

# 40 RyanLaFalce @ 02/23/14 02:06 PM

I'm really hoping for a college basketball game soon. I don't understand why they haven't even thought of it yet.

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