EA Cancels NBA Live... Again

The 2k games are pretty boring but somehow the EA games have been much much worse. It's hard to believe it's the same company that made NBA Live 98 that I could still have fun with today.

I dont think they shipped Elite to stores, and it never got on to shelves did it? I think a few copies got out as it had gone to pressing, so some were available on ebay, but that video link you posted and others like it were from the very janky demo which was released prior to cancelling.

NBA Dead 13

I just saw joel2742mcleod's comment on that news blog where he talks about murdering all of EA's staff. This is the type of crap that makes sport gamers like myself look dumb. :(

You know what this means.

Now is the time

for the return of BALLERS.

JOHNNY V'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN.

EA can use the extra time to make a licensed Badminton game. They can claim exclusive rights to being the only game in town. Sell premium season passes and time saving DLC. Plaster the game with Old Spice and Papa John ads to make it look cool like all their other quality sport brands.

Man, I cannot imagine the morale at the studio that was working on this. What a spectacular mess.

Holy shit - did you guys see the first comment under the announcement on the Live 13 site, about the cancellation?

And I quote:

YOU GOT TO ******* KIDDING ME,WE STUCK OUR NECK OUT FOR YOU.WE BEEN FANS OF YOU GUYS FOR YEARS,GETTING ************* EVERY ******* DAY WITH 2K FANS.I SWEAR IF THERE IS NO GAME THAT RELEASE THIS YEAR,IM KILLING EVERY EMPLOYEE IN THE EA/NBA LIVE BUILDING! DUDE I AM SO HEART BROKEN LITERALLY.I AM SO ****** TIRED OF PLAYING 2K.I CANT BELIEVE WE'RE STUCK w/PLAYING ONLY ONE GAME AFTER YOU GUYS HAD 3 TO 4 ******* YEARS TO FIX THE GAME THE RIGHT WAY.IF WE CANT AT LEAST GET SOMETHING ONLINE,IM w/EA 4EVER

I think today was literally the worst day in this guy's life.

You have to admit - there's a certain amount of delicious karma here.

EA essentially forced 2K out of the football game business by locking up the NFL license exclusively several years ago. In the years since, 2K have come to release the dominant NBA game instead, and EA have wasted untold money developing and canning theirs.

I feel bad for the developers toiling away on these games. I don't feel bad for EA at all.

Baron Davis looks sad.

@Zleunamme said:

EA can use the extra time to make a licensed Badminton game. They can claim exclusive rights to being the only game in town. Sell premium season passes and time saving DLC. Plaster the game with Old Spice and Papa John ads to make it look cool like all their other quality sport brands.

The newer NHL games are pretty quality. All the other ones have really been shitty since the PS3/360 era started.

@Nadafinga said:

File this one under the "Yeah, we probably all knew this was going to happen, but still..." category.

Whatever Navarro. Maybe you industry types have inside info, but I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Considering the trouble the Franchise has had this generation, it's not a surprise at all. People point to the 2010 cancellation but also forget that 2007 was a huge disaster, and the PS3 version never came out. That's now three times in one generation they have completely shit the bed on Basketball.

I enjoyed NBA Live 95 on my Megadrive

From the moment it all went quiet after E3, we knew this was coming. The "digital only" rumours just made it more clear. God only knows what that trailer was about that dropped like a month ago. I would have liked to see them release a product if only for the sake of competition as Madden is evidence of what happens with a a lack of it. Oh well, hope they get it together for Orbis and Durango. I'll keep enjoying my 2K.

Simply put: The 2K basketball series is so close to simulation perfection that there is no way EA or anybody else could make a basketball game that would even come close to besting it. 2K was close to doing this with their football franchise as well, but EA cowardly paid the NFL for exclusive use of the license. I'm glad EA can't do nothing with their basketball games now.

@DukeT said:

It's even better if you imagine Riccitiello as the recipient of that shrug.

@leejunfan83 said:

NBA Dead 13

Good one.

Well, there is only room for one fantastic basketball game, and Baller Beats is already out, soooo......

Damn, Alex. I thought you were gonna link to the video with Bynum "standin' in the middle of the court like Jezuz"

Lol. And also, man. I like NBA 2k and all, it's a solid series, but three years without competition is enough to make any dev at least a little complacent. Entire modes already get copy/pasted from one year to the next, those guys don't even have to try in order to put out a hit at $60 retail. Madden syndrome, and all that.

I hope EA Sports can get basketball on track next gen, as much of a mess Live is right now competition is a good thing. Amazed they went right up until the 11th hour again before cancelling though. Figured they'd at least put out a F2P card came or something.

Is this going to happen every year they can't get an exclusive contract with the NBA? They probably don't want to compete with good games when they can fuck the consumer in the same way they do with Madden.

@Error1355 said:

@Zleunamme said:

EA can use the extra time to make a licensed Badminton game. They can claim exclusive rights to being the only game in town. Sell premium season passes and time saving DLC. Plaster the game with Old Spice and Papa John ads to make it look cool like all their other quality sport brands.

The newer NHL games are pretty quality. All the other ones have really been shitty since the PS3/360 era started.

This. I'll also give them credit for FIFA because that series has progressed this generation. The football games, however, made a sharp turn in the wrong direction. It took several years before NCAA and Madden became competent games this generation. And, unfortunately, EA's baseball series didn't get a shot because of the 2K deal but that's expiring and it sounds like 2K is giving up on that franchise so maybe we'll get a new MVP next year (and hopefully it won't suck).

Side note: I don't know if it's just me but I've found that all EA Sports games have become extraordinarily clunky. Loading screens, press start, more loading, connecting to server, slow to react menus, more loading, connecting to servers (when I'm intending to play offline), etc... It's a few minutes before I can start a game. I guess they've always been that way but it seems like the loads and times to simulate other events during season take forever in comparison to loading in other games.

Locking down those new ball physics must be very difficult and EA's poor management of this series is not helping.

How many games with good potential that couldn't have unnecessary multiplayer shoehorned in were scrapped while EA wasted money on this poorly managed mess?

Oh the perils of an 8 year console cycle. Goes to show that if 2K had an NFL game, there wouldn't have been a Madden '11, '12, or '13 either. EA knows Live/Elite offered nothing new, and would get terrible reviews, so all the kids would choose 2K, meaning their advertising budget would go to waste. The same thing would've happened to madden: shitty 7.2/10.0 scores, kids choosing NFL2K11, manufacturing and ad budget wasted (plus upkeep, patching, server hosting, disgruntled customers skipping DLC... where the real money for EA is.) Folks, Electronic Arts NEEDS a three to four year console cycle so it strip all the features besides graphics, and slowly put them back in.

EA should just stick with NBA Jam as their only basketball franchise and not try a sim style one. 2K has that market well in hand.

The other one in thr YouTube video actually looks quite good apart from the man-trees growing out the centre of the court, I'm amazed they can't finish it in some form or other.

Eh, the 2K basketball games are really fun. Now if only EA could get a hold of the MLB license...

@subrandom: That's fucking perfect. Bravo!

If the dev team on both cancelled games are the same, I think this would mean that EA really needs to look at restructuring that team with a new Producer (Who is supposed to check up on QA things), or needs to consider letting the team go.

If it is not the same team, I have no idea how this is possible.

Wow. Get your head in the game, EA!

@Eujin said:

If the dev team on both cancelled games are the same, I think this would mean that EA really needs to look at restructuring that team with a new Producer (Who is supposed to check up on QA things), or needs to consider letting the team go.

If it is not the same team, I have no idea how this is possible.

If I remember correctly I believe they put the NHL team on NBA Elite, I don't know who was doing this game though.

@boocreepyfootdoctor said:

Oh the perils of an 8 year console cycle. Goes to show that if 2K had an NFL game, there wouldn't have been a Madden '11, '12, or '13 either. EA knows Live/Elite offered nothing new, and would get terrible reviews, so all the kids would choose 2K, meaning their advertising budget would go to waste. The same thing would've happened to madden: shitty 7.2/10.0 scores, kids choosing NFL2K11, manufacturing and ad budget wasted (plus upkeep, patching, server hosting, disgruntled customers skipping DLC... where the real money for EA is.) Folks, Electronic Arts NEEDS a three to four year console cycle so it strip all the features besides graphics, and slowly put them back in.

That doesn't make sense. EA's NHL series completely wiped the floor of 2K's to the point where 2K stopped making them and 2K's baseball games have been complete shit this generation and gets outsold by a single platform game. There really is nothing that indicates what would have happened if the exclusivity never happened.

@devilzrule27 said:

@Eujin said:

If the dev team on both cancelled games are the same, I think this would mean that EA really needs to look at restructuring that team with a new Producer (Who is supposed to check up on QA things), or needs to consider letting the team go.

If it is not the same team, I have no idea how this is possible.

If I remember correctly I believe they put the NHL team on NBA Elite, I don't know who was doing this game though.

Tiburon, the Madden guys.

A three-peat joke in an article?Kudos for avoiding the obvious joke/LeBron.

What a joke.

@boocreepyfootdoctor said:

Oh the perils of an 8 year console cycle. Goes to show that if 2K had an NFL game, there wouldn't have been a Madden '11, '12, or '13 either. EA knows Live/Elite offered nothing new, and would get terrible reviews, so all the kids would choose 2K, meaning their advertising budget would go to waste. The same thing would've happened to madden: shitty 7.2/10.0 scores, kids choosing NFL2K11, manufacturing and ad budget wasted (plus upkeep, patching, server hosting, disgruntled customers skipping DLC... where the real money for EA is.) Folks, Electronic Arts NEEDS a three to four year console cycle so it strip all the features besides graphics, and slowly put them back in.

That doesn't make sense. EA's NHL series completely wiped the floor of 2K's to the point where 2K stopped making them and 2K's baseball games have been complete shit this generation and gets outsold by a single platform game. There really is nothing that indicates what would have happened if the exclusivity never happened.

@Hailinel: What doesn't make sense is how you think Madden would have automatically been a worst game than if 2K was still making football games.

@Lothars said:

@Hailinel: What doesn't make sense is how you think Madden would have automatically been a worst game than if 2K was still making football games.

I never suggested any such thing.

man I really hope they can release a new one next year; every game needs competition to thrive at there best even 2k.

EA can't put out a solid sports game where they have competition.

OH NO! WHERE AM I GOING TO GET MY DELICIOUS BASKETBALL NEEDS?!

@Deusx said:

OH NO! WHERE AM I GOING TO GET MY DELICIOUS BASKETBALL NEEDS?!

DON'T WORRY BRO BALLER BEATS HAS YOU COVERED!

I'm kinda enjoying this clusterfuck, to be honest.

Did a game ship in 2011?

It's obviously too valuable not to try. It must be depressing working on this game.

With the recent (maybe true) news of some people trying to do a basketball bikini league (similar to the lingerie bowl), maybe if they went this route instead EA would put out a basketball game.

@Hailinel said:

@Deusx said:

OH NO! WHERE AM I GOING TO GET MY DELICIOUS BASKETBALL NEEDS?!

DON'T WORRY BRO BALLER BEATS HAS YOU COVERED!

OH THANK GOD.