Would Changing the Release Date Have Shifted NCAA Basketball's Fortunes?

Feature Article

Submitted on: 12/06/2011 by Thomas Surovy

The last college basketball game released was back in 2009 with EA Sports’ NCAA Basketball 10 and it’s been four years since 2K Sports released a college basketball game, with the much beloved College Hoops 2K8. Both series suffered from poor sales and it is believed that those figures, combined with the high cost of the NCAA license, led to their cancellations. The games were traditionally released in the middle of November, with the exception of a special download-only “March Madness” edition of NCAA Basketball 09 that was released in March of 2009. One frequently talked about issue with the sales involves the November release date. So it makes me wonder if that date was changed, would the sales increase?

Bad Timing

A November release meant that the college basketball games often got lost in the shuffle. The NBA games are normally released in early October, so many gamers were still fully involved in those games and probably didn’t feel the need to purchase another basketball game. The release date was also right in the middle of football season, so Madden and NCAA Football were still in many gamers’ rotations. Finally, November is also the most popular time for many big-name, non-sports game franchises to be released in time for the holiday season. Combine all of those factors and it’s easy to see how the College Hoops and NCAA Basketball series may have been overlooked by fans.

Not Prime Season

With a November release date, EA Sports and 2K Sports made die-hard college hoops fans happy by releasing their games right as the season was kicking off. While there are some very good non-conference match-ups and interesting tournaments early in the season, college basketball is barely on the average sports fan’s radar in November. The NFL is beginning its stretch run to the playoffs while college football in November features many of the big rivalry games and conference championships. The NBA, in non-lockout years, is just kicking off its season, while the NHL season is moving along, so there is a lot of competition for a sports fan’s attention. It’s safe to say that college basketball isn’t a priority for the average sports gamer during such a busy month for sports.

If Not November, When?

Obviously, March is the time of year when sports fans are giving the majority of their attention to college basketball. NCAA tournament gambling makes everyone an expert on whether Duke will win another title or whether Butler can make another Cinderella run to the Final Four. However, a March release for a college basketball game would limit gamers to about a month with their game before the actual season was over, making them reluctant to part with their hard-earned money for only a short time of having the game in their rotation. In addition, March usually sees the release of the baseball games that would compete for sports gamers’ dollars.

Early January would be the ideal release date for a college basketball game. Three months will have passed since the release of the NBA game(s), so basketball fans could be looking for something different to get their fix. In addition, the college football season has ended and the NFL has only a few playoff games remaining, so gamers may be phasing their football games out of their regular rotation. Meanwhile, college basketball has started conference play and many big rivalry games are being played. The game release schedule in January is usually lighter since the holiday shopping season is over, so there would be less competition from non-sports games as well. A January release gives gamers a solid three months of in-season play of the college basketball game, with plenty of time to get familiar, without getting burned out, before March Madness.

Final Thoughts

A myriad of factors led to the demise of the NCAA Basketball and College Hoops series. One of those was a poorly timed release date. Moving the release date back to January lessens the competition for gamers’ attention while still giving basketball fans plenty of in-season time with the game.

If the NCAA Basketball and/or College Hoops series were resurrected, when do you think the optimal release date would be for ensuring the long-term success of the game?

Member Comments

# 1 mcpats @ 12/06/11 12:17 PM

Back in 2004 I was drooling hearing about the graphics and processing capabilities of the coming PS3 and XBOX 360 consoles. If you told me then that I would only have one NFL game to choose from and NO college basketball games at all, I would have punched you in the face and called you a communist...little did I know.

# 2 jersez @ 12/06/11 12:43 PM

I'm hoping that maybe somebody at 2k sports is looking at this and reconsidering. IF they had guarantee sales then I think they would do. A number where its profitable and realistic. Idk I hate the petition thing because everybody does one and I rarely see them work, but I think if we could guarantee we would buy the next college hoops, then they would do it.

# 3 tril @ 12/06/11 12:49 PM

A January release would probably be the best release dat for a cb basketball game. Maybe a week befor the students head back to college for the 2nd semester.
This also allows the college season to gain some momentum. To sort out who's who in the rankings.
one thing that does hurt the cb game is the lack of player recognition, aside from the cover athlete.

I do think that a cb game doesnt need to be released every year. Maybe a 2-3 year cycle would be appropriate.
Also trends in viewer interest plays a key role. CB has trended upwards the past several years. more TV networks have picked up broadcasting games. so the game is on the radar more so than say back in 2007 when 2k released 2k8.
My final comment is this, 2k has picked up enough buzz on the quality of 2k8 that they should think about releasing another cb game.
EA did a good job presentaion wise, with 10. they were maybe two years away from releasing a quality game.

# 4 Gramps91 @ 12/06/11 01:06 PM

man I miss the college basketball games I still play NCAA Basketball 10 quite freqently and play College Hoops 2k8 every once in a while. I just love taking small teams and building them into bigger teams. Right now I am coaching Canissus on NCAA Basketball 10.

I really can't think of a better release date myself. sadly the sport just doesn't have the support that NCAA football does, which is sad because NCAA Basketball is obviously better. I never saw what was so great about football.

# 5 MHammer113 @ 12/06/11 01:08 PM

If I am not mistaken College Hoops in either 2006 or 2007 was released in January for Xbox 360. It would be interesting to see the sales numbers during this time period compared to the other times of release. This article is sad but so true.

# 6 SkillzKillz719 @ 12/06/11 01:16 PM

Why must you even get our hopes up slightly :P lol.
I wish they would release a new college basketball game. I'd probably buy 2 copies just to show my support.

# 7 MHammer113 @ 12/06/11 01:16 PM

I went and looked and 2k6 was released the first week of March but still worth looking at the figures

# 8 The Gunslinger @ 12/06/11 01:24 PM

I'm sure EA and 2K would love to get back into college basketball. However, in a financial sense, its just not possible. Both companies (just like the rest of the video game industry) lost a significant amount of revenue from the 08' market crash. Three years later, they have barely increased their stock price back to just HALF of what it was prior to the crash. During that process they have had to reduce their risk by transferring resources from projects like NCAA basketball, NCAA baseball, Arena Football etc.. into less riskier products like Madden, NCAA Football, and NBA 2k. Once their stock prices surpass their pre 08' collapse marks (and at this point they have risen at a snail's pace compared to the dramatic rises in the late 90's-early 2000s), then you will see EA & 2k get back onto the hardwood.

# 9 The Gunslinger @ 12/06/11 01:33 PM

The problem is not that the games were being sold in November (because as noted MHammer, 2k tried selling in March and I do remember EA selling some of the March Madness titles in January). The problem is that EA and 2k can not afford the risk as they could in the past. Consumers aren't buying video games like they used to anymore. If the economy had not collapsed, we would all be talking about the latest college basketball video game. Unfortunately, sacrifices had to be made

# 10 crques @ 12/06/11 01:57 PM

The official NCAA license is good, but if 2K wanted to omit it for financial reasons, honestly at this point I would settle for a generic College Hoops as long as it was a polished version of 2K8. By generic, I mean that I would be ok with generic team & tournament names as long as we are able to identify who and what they are actually supposed to be. The players wouldn't be an issue because they aren't named anyway, and I think we've always known who they are supposed to represent on these games. As long as the conferences and teams were recognizable and the game played similar to 2K8, I would be more than happy to buy it, even if it meant a National Championship game of University of Lexington & University of Chapel Hill somewhere down the road.

# 11 MHammer113 @ 12/06/11 01:57 PM

The biggest issue is how greedy the NCAA has become in their liscensing fees. They are charging a rediculous amount for a liscense.

# 12 Jadakiss88 @ 12/06/11 02:08 PM

I always wondered why they waited until November to release. Just like the article said by November I am either fully invested in a NBA title, NCAA, or Madden. But its funny because around this time I am sick of the tedious recruiting process with NCAA and probably have already put together 8 or 9 draft classes for Madden. I remember March Madness 03 that was probably the best college basketball game I have played. But the thing 2k did better was the recruiting you were fully invested in recruiting (if you chose too) you were even allowed to play recruits high school games at one point, thats something I need.

If EA or 2k (really 2k) could bring back College Hoops and give you a in depth experience for dynasty and my player (or as OS said My Athelete) hell who am I kidding if 2k drops a College Hoops game its a release day purchase.

# 13 Jadakiss88 @ 12/06/11 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Gunslinger


	The problem is not that the games were being sold in November (because as noted MHammer, 2k tried selling in March and I do remember EA selling some of the March Madness titles in January). The problem is that EA and 2k can not afford the risk as they could in the past. Consumers aren't buying video games like they used to anymore. If the economy had not collapsed, we would all be talking about the latest college basketball video game. Unfortunately, sacrifices had to be made

I think with all the hype and anticipation for a return to College Basketball it wouldn't be as risky. The problem I see is the HUGE sales numbers after being released for a week and a HUGE number of returns if they don't thoroughly test and analyze this game before release to make sure there are minimal or no bugs. But you are right the crash in the market made EA and 2k scared to take the risk. But with alot of people crying for a College Hoops game I think it might be a pretty decent risk to take.

# 14 khaliib @ 12/06/11 02:15 PM

Release date was a killer, and now the 1st-Person shooters released in Oct/Nov, Jan would be the best month as there is nothing going on and most gamers are not interested in NCAA hype time after this year's mess.

Also one of the major things is that any College Basketball game has to bring something to the table that allows it to stand by itself and not just a copy of the NBA game with a different skin.

The effort to have the College game carry over to the their Pro game meant that the code/programming had to be the same to minimize issues.

This meant we were basically getting the same game at $120 price tag from both developers.

I believe that was a major issue with sales, in that as good as CH 2k8 was, it was really just a copy of it's NBA counterpart with recruiting instead of a draft.

Same thing with EA's version except is was even more watered down, but mostly just a copy of NBA Live.

There will always be a market for College games, it's just that gamer's are no longer interested in buying the same game with slight differences.

The Final thing is that I don't know what it's going to take for developers to realize that they don't need to spend money on licensing when they can just provide a "Robust Customization" module and gamer's will create those teams for themselves.

For some reason, as simple as this is, it seems so difficult for a developer to understand.

# 15 davel @ 12/06/11 02:26 PM

they couldnt just sell downloadable content for college hoops 2k8 that could update the graphics, player model, up to date rankings

# 16 biggiejerseys @ 12/06/11 02:28 PM

I miss my college basketball games. As a kid I always enjoyed the cb games more than the nba games. I need to find my copy of CH 2K8.

# 17 ggsimmonds @ 12/06/11 02:34 PM

I think this NBA lockout may have killed any hope for a return to CH by 2k.
For the past two years they have had a de facto monopoly on NBA games. The revenue would have been very high and it could have off set the costs associated with college hoops.
But because of the lockout, 2k lost a lot of revenue from sales. This is money that could have went to a college game.
Now we have to assume that next year EA will be back into the NBA market and 2k will have to devote resources to competing with them. But 2 years without competition could have effectively eliminated the competition before they even had competition.

# 18 stlstudios189 @ 12/06/11 04:04 PM

this was the perfect year to take advantage of the NBA lockout and release a new CH 2k game but, nobody jumped on the opprotunity and NBA 2k 12's sales are way down. I would love to see them send out a game and maybe lower the price to attract more customers or offer a collectors edition of NBA 2k13 with CH2k13 for $99.99 man that would freaking rock

# 19 ven0m43 @ 12/06/11 04:24 PM

I watch college hoops every week, but I don't really get into it until February right before march madness begins. The season is coming to the end, we see who the top teams are, Conference tournaments are getting ready and the selection show is around the corner.

I enjoy the college sports game must more than the professional sports games. I usually get bored of Madden or NBA 2k after 1 or 2 seasons, but with NCAA and CH2k I play 6+ seasons and still enjoy playing them.

# 20 JStapley @ 12/06/11 08:44 PM

I think EA should focus solely on creating an NCAA hoops game. Instead of having to split money and resources between an NBA game and a college game, having just the one focus would, in theory at least, lead to a more highly polished game. Unless 2K came out with something revolutionary with their series, a lot of gamers might look at picking up the college game just for the uniqueness of it. I know I would.

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