NBA Live 20 Has Officially Been Canceled

[King_B_Mack]

Quote: Originally Posted by youvalss

You are right, the game does looks great. To me, Live 18 is the 2K14 (if I am allowed to say it here) of the Live franchise. It's a masterpiece graphically (aside from some of the player models). But with a new gen comes a graphical upgrade.

Yeah but it's the same issue. The graphical jump from Live 14 to Live 15 was like the jump of a new console generation and we've already got 2 cancelled games since then. So why exactly is the series going to get back on track cancelling progress on Live 20, to focus on better graphics for Next Gen going to bring any sort of success. Good graphics or not cancelling games does damage to the brand name and at this point they've pretty much irreparably stained the NBA Live brand with 4 cancelled games in 9 years.

[youvalss]

Don't know if it will be back on track in the long run, but we already know that a new gen and amazing graphics create hype, and, I would assume, sell.

I don't know if Live 20 could create a hype more than 18/19. But I think that 21, if looks amazing and moves well enough, will surely create some hype.

[Dione2014]

Quote: Originally Posted by jerwoods

what killed live was when the nba went all in with 2k and e-sports and i think the nba give 2k a 7Billion dollar deal

NBA Live 06 and 07 killed NBA Live. They never caught their footing going into the ps3 and 360's life cycle causing them to cancel in 2010. Unfortunately they cancelled the year 2K11 released. Every since then they've been fighting a major uphill battle against a company that has released a game every year since 1999. Meanwhile Live is cancelled for the second time, needing to rebuild new systems for stuff that 2K has had in place for years.

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[King_B_Mack]

Quote: Originally Posted by youvalss

Don't know if it will be back on track in the long run, but we already know that a new gen and amazing graphics create hype, and, I would assume, sell. I don't know if Live 20 could create a hype more than 18/19. But I think that 21, if looks amazing and moves well enough, will surely create some hype.

I think you’re overstating the “hype” of new console graphics, especially when compared to the damage they’ve done to the brand already. There is a certain level of hype over improved graphics for games like 2K and Madden sure, but Live’s reputation is so bad nobody but the people already buying Live are going to buy it on a new console just based on graphics. Which is why it makes no sense to punt on 20 if the idea is that they couldn’t make progress on gameplay so let’s just wait for the new consoles where we can spruce up the graphics and sell the game that way.

It’s flawed logic because 2K is going to come with improved graphics as well as a track record of good gameplay and a name that people don’t equate with failure. Besides, we’ve already seen the allure of new console graphics not do a thing for Live’s sales. Elite 11 dropped on 360/PS4, the next time they released with 14 was on XBox One/PS4. Granted those graphics were crap, but nobody was checking for Live then before we saw screens. Then they got their graphics jump the following year and still got nothing as far as hype and sales.


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[Anthraticus]

Been playing Live 96 with updated rosters and having a lot more fun than I did with any modern b-ball games that I remember.


It just feels better and tighter, controls wise.

[youvalss]

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

I think you’re overstating the “hype” of new console graphics, especially when compared to the damage they’ve done to the brand already. There is a certain level of hype over improved graphics for games like 2K and Madden sure, but Live’s reputation is so bad nobody but the people already buying Live are going to buy it on a new console just based on graphics. Which is why it makes no sense to punt on 20 if the idea is that they couldn’t make progress on gameplay so let’s just wait for the new consoles where we can spruce up the graphics and sell the game that way. It’s flawed logic because 2K is going to come with improved graphics as well as a track record of good gameplay and a name that people don’t equate with failure. Besides, we’ve already seen the allure of new console graphics not do a thing for Live’s sales. Elite 11 dropped on 360/PS4, the next time they released with 14 was on XBox One/PS4. Granted those graphics were crap, but nobody was checking for Live then before we saw screens. Then they got their graphics jump the following year and still got nothing as far as hype and sales.

I think that at this point Live is on its own, comparisons with 2K don't matter anymore because it's pretty clear that these games are on different stages in their evolution.


I don't think Live 20 would have sold enough to justify another full year cycle work, so it's strange that EA waited for so long to cancel it. Why not cancel it early and move resources to 21 on a new gen?


I still think that if EA released 15 instead of 14 it would have been accepted as a legitimate next-gen game (graphics and physics were legitimate). Would it sell as much as 2k14 and praised just as much? Obviously not, but it would not make things worse as 14 did.


Again, If Live 21 looks amazing and moves well (great looking animations and physics) and EA is being more innovative, this can definitely create hype that would translate into sales more than 20 could do. That's how I see it. Sure everyone will get extra-hyped by 2K, we all understand it before even knowing anything about 2K21, but Live needs hype, needs to be its own product. EA needs to re-build the Live brand, and so far they have been struggling with that.



And I think that if EA starts showing off some stuff...maybe at E3 and it looks great, it is going to make people want to see more, regardless of how amazing the other game looks. But EA's marketing can be...weird, so they need to figure out how to market their product, especially one that people are skeptical about. If they put out a great product but don't know how to sell it, it's going to hurt them.


Time will tell...