NBA Live Committed to Consoles - Shipping in 2017, But the Focus Will Be on Mobile

[Tonyattia]

I disagree with the notion that live hasn't made 2k better. I have a few examples

- Scott Og was on live and then went to 2k, not sure that happens if if live didn't find him
- Live 14 had the defensive coach options for pick and roll defense, how to defend off ball screens, when to double team ect. All 2k14 had was points of emphasis, now they've got the most in depth defensive game planning in sports video games. Live helped push them toward that
- Live 14 had the manual 'lob' and 'lead' pass and 2k14 didn't, next year 2k15 adds those controls
- Live had the signature size ups in live 14, 2k14 didn't. Next year in 2k15 they added it and then expanded it in 16
- Live 14 had cheer leaders and mascots, 2k14 didn't, the next year they added them
- Live was the first to start scanning in shoes, it was the one thing that looked better than 2k visually. Now 2k has added them
- Live' 14 ultimate team had fantasy challenges, now 2k has added them to my team
- Live allowed you to pick your team, then moved you to another screen to select your jerseys, a feature 2k now uses.
- Id argue 2k stepped their soundtrack game up because of Live having Mick curate their songs.

My point is that while 2k has been the far better game in each of live's first three years coming back, just them simply having a game to compare themselves to allowed 2k to see what a different team was doing, and incorporate some of live's best components to their game to make it that much better. So besides the fact that I think live has gotten better every year, I want competition simply because the games offer differing features. It's a copy cat industry, and having a second game in the market is good for all parties in my opinion, even if it just makes the other game better.


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[CMH]

Live was also the first to use full body scans. 2K only did head until Live made the technology a major focal point of their graphics.

I do think a lot of 2K fans don't understand what the Live team attempted and pushed. They helped basketball games quite a bit even if one could argue their implementation was the weaker.

[Ermolli]

I found this quote from the EA's Earnings Call

Quote: Originally Posted by Blake Jorgensen - Electronic Arts Inc. - CFO

We don't spend a lot of time worrying about it because we feel like our ability to develop for whatever new technology comes, the risk of that's been minimized, because we've moved towards one single engine, Frostbite, and we're able to port that to whatever platform, or point that to whatever platform is evolving or is upgraded.

Maybe I didn't understand the quote well, took it out of context or I'm missing something, but does this mean Live ditched whichever engine they had and went on to use Frostbite? Could it be a reason why the game is delayed (for now)? I'm not sure about it but I felt it was worth considering.

In case someone wants to read the file it's here.

[seanhazz1]

I like Live 16 both for what it is and for what it isn't, without even comparing it against 2K directly.

I think their (EA's) use and exploitation of the "cloud gaming" approach will be on display in the next iteration of Live and beyond, so we will see smaller installation sizes, the ability to add higher quality content with shared processing power, and faster and more frequent updates (as needed). Unfortunately I also think it paves the way for more Pay to play content across the board.

Another thing to think about, what if they (EA Sports) are programming to meet the capabilities and standards of the newly announced systems (PS4 Neo and the "New xbox", VR, as well as PC?), that games being developed now can't take advantage of unless through patching or later updates? We all know patching sucks on multiple levels, compared to a refined release product.

From a business standpoint it makes sense, to consolidate to one source code for multiple platforms, its cost effective and works to provide consistent releases of updates and content across systems, especially if on any level it allows cross platform play, which seems a direction gaming is going. I hope it doesn't also mean they are limiting the resources for specific Live 17 development, as dev podcasts previously stated focuses on things like, dynasty, improved modes, graphics, improved physics, etc.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they added some VR capabilities in LIVE (or other EA sports games...imagine baseball in VR???) with the released date pushed back.

Personally, I'm keeping hope alive for Live 17, because of the support and the amount of improvements in game play since launch, ...until otherwise noted.

[Crunky]

I've got 2 game related reasons for the delay of NBA live 17.


I'm just speculating but one of the reasons for the delay is maybe a create a team feature that ties somehow with their mobile game. If you look at NHL 17 they showed off a create a team feature in their trailer and its a fact that in the past easports shared concepts amongst their franchises. This maybe ties to their mobile game somehow with microtransactions to download certain logos,jerseys,arenas etc. I could see why for the delay to implement this customization feature they would want to get it right on the first implementation of this feature.


The next reason for the delay could be because their starting from scratch with their animation base where they mo-cap everything and not just a little bit like last time. All this is time consuming and won't be possible in a 1 year dev cycle. Players shooting not looking at the basket was the last straw which forced their hand to improve the animation quality. Animation and game play go hand and hand for NBA live to fix gameplay they have to fix their animations and I believe they now know that. Once again this is all just speculation on my part, so people don't get your hopes up.

[Calvenn]

This is what we requested! We all said Live17 was a "do or die" game right? Well, they will be using this additional time to expand and complete this game as required! Live fans should be happy to hear this news, same for 2k heads! ( will keep the 2k team on their toes). All bball fans should rejoice!

Mobile will allow them further entrance into a larger and untapped market/audience, considering the very favorable reviews attained by the Canada released Live mobile. Market accessibility ( game will be free) and microtransactions is the key here! From a business perspective, this makes all the sense in the world! It does not mean that they will be ditching the console platform if and when mobile takes off! In fact, you can imagine that this new source of generated revenue will make the console game production even more viable!

Finally, twitter and other messages from Live devs were sent out right before and on the day of this report from Sean O'Brien. They repeated that development was ongoing and apologized for the delay while promising a better product. " We will get Live back to where it belongs". On EAs site, they are hiring for new positions for the console version, including a lead marketing position, etc.

Personally, I look forward to what they are working on for release in 2017! From a strategic perspective, I also like that the timing does not coincide with the release of 2k. Something to look out for in one of those messages (though cryptic ) is that the release schedule for Live may change going forward to align with this strategy. Anything can happen off course however, in this case, the signs and information is there to indicate that the console game is and has been in production since Jan 16 ( and possibly sooner) and will be released!

[zrohman]

Sounds like an excuse. They will probably use this to soften the blow when they delay it later until 18 or possibly cancel it all together

[wacko11]

The one thing EA did right was picked Westbrook for 16, he's balling out this playoffs.