News Post

The Next NBA Live Has Been Pushed to Fall 2017

05:57 PM - January 31, 2017 by Steve_OS

During today's Electronic Arts Q3 2017 earnings conference call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the next NBA Live, which was originally scheduled to release early this year, has been pushed to the fall of 2017.

According to Andrew, EA wanted double down on the game and give it an entire NBA season to sell, rather than release it early this year as planned.

Member Comments

# 61 RoyalBoyle78 @ 02/02/17 01:10 PM

I'm a big supporter of live series like most of you know, Im kinda bummed out.

# 62 PVarck31 @ 02/02/17 07:51 PM

I imagine there are too many hoops to jump through and that's why they don't do it, but if they just scrapped Live and did NCAA Basketball again, it would be a gold mine for them.

# 63 youvalss @ 02/02/17 09:46 PM

Hopefully they use the extra time to put edit player/roster back in the game. It's inexcusable, and would have been inexcusable 10 years ago as well.

# 64 vtcrb @ 02/03/17 09:49 AM

Roster Editing is a MUST. I provided Live Team members info about Ratings being off in 15 & 16 for Numerous players. Now these were NOT big name players, but valuable Role Players. Their Ratings were HORRIBLE and didnt matchup with players who had LOWER skill levels. I was told it would be looked into BUT that if it would break the game or make things looked skewed nothing would be done. And nothing was done. At that point I told myself I would NOT buy another Live game until EDITING was added back. I cant buy a game when ratings will NOT be towards a Players Skill level.

# 65 DBMcGee3 @ 02/03/17 05:23 PM

Why would they ever have considered a March release? What am I missing?

# 66 Crunky @ 02/04/17 07:52 PM

The word going around is that NBA Live 17 wasn't released because they didn't want to seem inferior to a NBA 2k18 release in the same year so they wanted to match up head to head. Casual gamers would purchase NBA 2k18 knowing the new rookies would be included.

# 67 iFnotWhyNoT @ 02/05/17 03:03 PM

After hearing the amount of money this company makes a year off of Ultimate Team [nearly a billion dollars, shoutout to the PressRow Podcast] Why on earth would you not take the risk of dropping 2 games in one year. One, right at all-star weekend to in there own words "disrupt" the market while 2K seems to be outdated and people are clamoring for something new, while releasing the updated full Live 18 version in the fall with all the bells and whistles.

Something similar to Live 16 free to play demo would be all that's necessary to get a great jump in consumer awareness and interest by the casuals. Youtuber's would be advertising their game for weeks while providing feedback on gameplay. You save yourself a somewhat botched release in the fall if the game ships with gameplay bugs and whatnot.

Just my 2 cents.

# 68 dasunsrule32 @ 02/05/17 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iFnotWhyNoT


	After hearing the amount of money this company makes a year off of Ultimate Team [nearly a billion dollars, shoutout to the PressRow Podcast] Why on earth would you not take the risk of dropping 2 games in one year. One, right at all-star weekend to in there own words "disrupt" the market while 2K seems to be outdated and people are clamoring for something new, while releasing the updated full Live 18 version in the fall with all the bells and whistles. Something similar to Live 16 free to play demo would be all that's necessary to get a great jump in consumer awareness and interest by the casuals. Youtuber's would be advertising their game for weeks while providing feedback on gameplay. You save yourself a somewhat botched release in the fall if the game ships with gameplay bugs and whatnot. Just my 2 cents.

Because they'd be giving away their thunder, graphics, gameplay mechanics added, etc.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

# 69 jadert @ 02/06/17 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockie_Fresh88


	I said this from the jump ... The game should release in the fall . I never understood the purpose of a spring release

But in the fall, they wanted a spring release. They didn't feel as if it was complete enough. Now if they don't feel like it is totally fleshed out in the fall, then what? A spring 2018 release?

They have a track record of teasing the fans, and then at the last second pulling or delaying the game. And the most loyal fans say the same thing: "It's better that the game is delayed to work on more stuff". At some point someone has to say WTF? (no pun intended lol)

On the bright side, 2K will probably release their best game ever. They tend to do that when a hint of competition comes around.

# 70 youvalss @ 02/06/17 01:04 AM

The bright side of all this (if we can can find one) is that we are getting a fresh almost-new game every 3-4 years (not necessarily great, but fresh). It's almost like there is a 3rd and 4th companies making games. Let's just imagine that this year Konami is making the game. And let's pretend that Live 14-16 was released by 989 Sports. Lots of competition...

# 71 Daddy123 @ 02/06/17 05:38 PM

NBA Live 18 has to be a home run otherwise they need to cancel the series. They have had any chances to put something out and they have failed, even with tremendous time off

# 72 noshun @ 02/06/17 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youvalss


	The bright side of all this (if we can can find one) is that we are getting a fresh almost-new game every 3-4 years (not necessarily great, but fresh). It's almost like there is a 3rd and 4th companies making games. Let's just imagine that this year Konami is making the game. And let's pretend that Live 14-16 was released by 989 Sports. Lots of competition...

If you have to resort to thinking like this to psych yourself into downplaying the last(going on 7) 6 years, then they've failed miserably. Delusions of grandeur..

# 73 youvalss @ 02/07/17 12:22 AM

It's was more of a joke, but it does seem like this series has lost its identity. You don't know what you're going to get next time.

# 74 noshun @ 02/07/17 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youvalss


	It's was more of a joke, but it does seem like this series has lost its identity. You don't know what you're going to get next time.

I got that part, it's just that what you mentioned seems to be the reality for this series. People excuse it's short comings with all sorts or irrational, from blaming casuals, saying the comp does blah blah as a crutch to justify why they like or play live, etc.

# 75 Nemesis Enforcer @ 02/07/17 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noshun


	If you have to resort to thinking like this to psych yourself into downplaying the last(going on 7) 6 years, then they've failed miserably. Delusions of grandeur..

Um there was such a thing as Live 15 and 16..Good games in my opinion and will only get better.
I understand the hate for 14(which wtf hyped the **** out of compared to 16 for some reason)..and lack of editing in these newer games but in no way are they trash. Man 14 was trash though lol.

# 76 Crunky @ 02/07/17 04:46 PM

A 2year development cycle should of been expected if they scrapped the animations from NBA Live 16. Starting fresh with new body models with fully mo-capped animations is expected to take at least 2years in a developmental cycle, not including modes.

# 77 youvalss @ 02/07/17 10:27 PM

Live 15 could have been much better, if they let us edit sliders and rosters/players. I was ok with the not-so-great animations, but it's just too bad that there was no editing in this game. If you have to play with someone else's sliders and you don't like the result, you are just going to either be forced to accept it, or give up very fast.

Although I had some enjoyment with the game, the problem was always that I couldn't change the sliders. Which is why even the best shooters played like insecure high school kids, and would only be able to score if someone else came to help them (via screen/play). It simulates text-book basketball, but not the NBA, where players make baskets with defense again and again and again.

Funny thing is that as bad as Live 14 was, the CPU would actually shoot midrange shots. I played a game of Live 14 the other day, and Carmelo was doing everything: Midrange, 3's, low post, high post, going to the basket... That would have been very rare in Live 15 (where he would try to go to the basket 9 times out of 10).

I have not played Live 16, but at some point when it's really cheap I might get it.

# 78 Haval93 @ 02/08/17 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dasunsrule32


	Because they'd be giving away their thunder, graphics, gameplay mechanics added, etc. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I disagree with this. The last thing EA or anybody on the Live team should be worried about is NBA 2K stealing ideas. It will take a couple of years for 2K to even think of Live as a competitor again. EA needs to focus and make sure they release a solid game regardless of what 2K is offering.

As far as the game being delayed, it's not a surprise at this point. I am more concerned about how much development time they lost by delaying the game? I hope this decision was something made earlier and was just waited on rather than an impromptu one done late at the stage.

Probably won't be news about the game now until Finals time at the earliest.

Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

# 79 SeaTownGamer @ 02/08/17 04:01 AM

People are saying the extra delay will make the game better. I'm not buying into that. It sounds like a broken record. Didn't Live get extra time to develop last gen, tell me how that turned out? NOT GOOD! I'm not going to even mention the competitor's name on this thread. This is about NBA Live.
The reason why I'm not hyped.....

- I like to play season/franchise mode in sports games and I'm almost certain that all CPU teams in Live 18 will play the same. I hope I'm wrong but this has been "hurting" EA Sports titles for years. If you don't believe me just go play against CPU in Madden, FIFA, NHL, etc. This is an EA thing.

- I'm pretty sure the delay is cause they want to touch up and add new things to ultimate teams rather than what we want in terms of gameplay.

- It will be bland and barebones. Given the track record I doubt we will get the same depth that the competition is providing us.

- Legacy issues will still be there.

Sorry if I sound like a Debbie downer but I lost hope. I know ppl are going to criticize this post and telling me to chill because the game isn't even out yet but we've been here before and I don't have trust in this franchise. I've been a supporter since Bulls vs Blazers on the SNES and always rooted for Live to return to dominance and recapture the throne but now I lost hope. Enough is enough. They aren't my family or my favorite sports teams so why bother cheering and giving hope for something that lets you down every year.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 80 seanhazz1 @ 02/08/17 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haval93


	The last thing EA or anybody on the Live team should be worried about is NBA 2K stealing ideas. It will take a couple of years for 2K to even think of Live as a competitor again. EA needs to focus and make sure they release a solid game regardless of what 2K is offering.

I disagree. They should always be worried about their ideas and star developers being stolen, as many have already been "stolen or re acquired" (be a pro- my player, ultimate team - my team, 5 vs 5 online, etc.), in recent history, game developers with a vision and great ideas like O' Gallagher and Wang, for example were pilfered by their competition, and their competition hasn't looked back since. Its not a coincidence with LIVE's development and sales struggles.

They needed to appease some of the great ideas of former and current devs, not saying they haven't but every dev team member is crucial in their own innovative role, just like in sports. It was like the Jets stealing Brady and Gronk in their Prime. Its not a knock on the current dev team, but any talent lost hurts the team as a whole, and sometimes it takes a bit of time to rebuild and right the ship, just like the sports teams they strive to emulate in our games.

I like and support Live, and maintain hope for the series to rebound, and I do agree they need to use this extra time to add missing content and to polish existing content for a solid release.

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