NBA Elite 11 News Post

"It Was Just Going to be a Bad Game" - EA on Elite 11

12:30 PM - November 24, 2010 by RaychelSnr

While this news item is certainly a couple of days old now, I thought I'd bring recent comments made by EA Head of Worldwide Development Andrew Wilson to IGN:

Quote:


	"But unlike those games, NBA Elite just wasn't going to make the kind of impact EA desired. "Ultimately," Wilson admits, "it was just going to be a bad game." That's not because the ideas of radically changing the controls (one stick for dribbling and shooter, the other for foot movements) was a bad one. In fact, if you ignore all the other issues with NBA Elite, the controls show a lot of promise. But it is all those other factors that just weren't up to snuff and would have netted NBA Elite poor review scores and unfavorable reactions from gamers. "I think that the goal of reinventing how people play basketball games and giving the gamer infinitely more control over the outcomes that appear on the screen in front of them, was something that just needed to take longer than we had," Wilson said. "We knew the goal was aggressive. But at the same time, we believed it was an important enough goal for the gamer, who'd been playing basketball games in a very similar way for a very long time."

Interestingly enough, I agree with EA's approach on this one. They were too bold too fast and got caught in a really bad situation. If they come back next year with a really solid game, which I feel they can, then I think that might be an endorsement of some kind for taking a year off from time to time.

While a lot of people, myself included, have criticized EA's offering of Elite 11 as being really bad -- the foundation and ideas that they were rolling with are things which will force the competition to change how it approaches the game of basketball. So given a more polished game than what we saw with the ill fated Elite 11, I think EA could end up ending up with nothing more than a small hiccup from a business standpoint.

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Member Comments

# 1 Bumble14 @ 11/24/10 12:58 PM

I don't think EA is going to rebound from this one. The damage done to the Live/Elite brand is devastating--do you even understand how good Elite/Live 12 is going to be to even get people somewhat interested? Basically think the greatest basketball game ever created....and then EA has to pray that positive word of mouth gets out to the masses that this is a better game than the competition.

They've dug themselves quite a deep hole--and 5 years into this current generation of consoles, EA may want to take a step back and decide to develop their basketball "ideas" so that it makes a huge splash come the next console generation. What's the point of releasing a product that is already so damaged commercially?

Regardless, I still do not understand why EA felt that they had to reinvent the wheel. Live 10 was showing such promise, and I can't be the only one who was hoping that EA built upon the Live 10 framework for this years game--I honestly think it could have competed with 2K--they were on the right track.

# 2 khaliib @ 11/24/10 01:51 PM

Point blank, 2k has put a basketball game out that has raised the bar (even with its own issues).

I really believe 2k is trying to deliver a "Death Blow" to EA with basketball as EA did to 2k with football.

Even if they do put out a NBA game next year, they will be far behind a game getting rave reviews and feedback to improve upon.

Feedback is the biggest thing EA will not have. So will gamers get 2010 with tweaks or get a game that "WOWS" with NEW injections beyond visual?

I don't understand why they don't push the College Basketball game. They have the market all to themselves and they were on there way to having something good when they cancelled. There problem is that they refused to flesh the game out, taking baby steps towards improvements.

As for Live/Elite, I see just a regular basketball game being put out again. Nothing that will push gamers to the level of walking away from the 2k version at the register.

Oh well, "Live and learn"...

# 3 DaReapa @ 11/24/10 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	While a lot of people, myself included, have criticized EA's offering of Elite 11 as being really bad -- the foundation and ideas that they were rolling with are things which will force the competition to change how it approaches the game of basketball. So given a more polished game than what we saw with the ill fated Elite 11, I think EA could end up ending up with nothing more than a small hiccup from a business standpoint.

I wholeheartedly agree. The overall package was horrendous, but I was feeling what they were trying to accomplish with the right stick controls and could see the potential. And even though I haven't touched a full game of Live in about 7 years, I really hope they can comeback strong. Competition is always a good thing for the consumers.

# 4 mrclutch @ 11/24/10 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumble14


	I don't think EA is going to rebound from this one. The damage done to the Live/Elite brand is devastating--do you even understand how good Elite/Live 12 is going to be to even get people somewhat interested? Basically think the greatest basketball game ever created....and then EA has to pray that positive word of mouth gets out to the masses that this is a better game than the competition. They've dug themselves quite a deep hole--and 5 years into this current generation of consoles, EA may want to take a step back and decide to develop their basketball "ideas" so that it makes a huge splash come the next console generation. What's the point of releasing a product that is already so damaged commercially? Regardless, I still do not understand why EA felt that they had to reinvent the wheel. Live 10 was showing such promise, and I can't be the only one who was hoping that EA built upon the Live 10 framework for this years game--I honestly think it could have competed with 2K--they were on the right track.

Agree with all of this. The Live/Elite brand may never recover. No doubt may of the Live loyal gamers have moved to 2K to get their basketball fix. Some we come back if given a chance. Other won't.

Like you I would have loved to played Live 11. I really think they were headed in the right direction. I hope whenever the next game comes out that so of best aspects of Live 10 will be included the offering.

# 5 alfieb24 @ 11/24/10 03:08 PM

Right before the demo came out, I swear I read posts from Reanimator talking about how fun Elite was, and how if we just played the demo and gave it a chance, we'd come to the same conclusion? So I think it's odd they all of a sudden admit that the game wasn't very good at all.

# 6 stlstudios189 @ 11/24/10 06:56 PM

I think that NBA Live series can recover. First off return to NBA Live not Elite. The name Elite will forever be tied to this failure. Take the control scheme perfect it. Advertise and promote the game like crazy. Drop the price down to $49.99 as a thank you to your loyal customers who are returning. I admire the fact that they said "this game is bad" pulled it and updated NBA Live 10. If only they would patch NCAA BB 10 I would have nothing left to slam on EA about. (hint, hint)

# 7 Jasong7777 @ 11/25/10 11:49 AM

EA should abandon the basketball market. Concentrate on the hockey and soccer titles, and improve Madden. Leave the basketball to 2K.

# 8 TUSS11 @ 11/27/10 06:28 PM

Show us something EA. Bring the fun back to basketball games.

# 9 convince @ 12/01/10 12:20 AM

I couldn't disagree more with the OP. While i do believe they can eventually recover, expecting them to do a complete 180 in a year is a little too optimistic. Tell me what change from when they finished developing the game to when the game went gold? Is everyone forgetting this game was pressed and in stores waiting for the release date. They had every intention of releasing the game as is. They didn't all of sudden grow a "Jimmy The Cricket". The pulling of the game was a direct result of media bashing and "Jesus" videos. They saw a decline in future profits that it, strictly business decision.

# 10 DJ @ 12/02/10 11:12 AM

I thought EA was headed in the right direction with both NBA Live 10 and NCAA Basketball 10. Live 10 was hurt by the initial update and then the first patch really messed things up. The second patch only helped things a little bit but ultimately, the game (to me) was best pre-patch/updates.

NCAA Basketball 10 featured some great things, most notably the dual presentation of ESPN and CBS. Gameplay was similar to Live but the addition of the motion offenses gave it more of a college feel. Unfortunately, the game didn't sell like hot cakes and EA quickly cut ties without even releasing a patch, which was needed for a variety of reasons, most notably the freezing issue. If EA had fixed that and also made some adjustments to the CPU post game and 3-pt. shooting, I would've been content.

I really don't know why they didn't just build on the base of Live 10; I felt Live 10 was pretty close to 2K10 in terms of quality.

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"It Was Just Going to be a Bad Game" - EA on Elite 11