14 DAY TRIAL // EA, one of the biggest games publishers in the world, has openly talked about how it canceled the NBA Elite 11 project a week before its official launch, and how it would've just ended up a bad game that disappointed everyone.
For those unaware, NBA Elite 11 was set to be the start of a new basketball franchise from EA, which would go on to rival 2K's NBA 2K series.
The title was in development at EA Canada, and was set to be launched at the beginning of October.
That hasn't happened, as EA delayed the game just a short time before it was scheduled to appear and after a demo was already launched.
A few weeks ago, the company outright canceled the project, saying that it will focus on delivering NBA Jam, an arcade remake, to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, after it was also released on the Wii.
According to Andrew Wilson, the head of worldwide development at EA Sports, NBA Elite was just going to be a bad game, that would disappoint gamers, no matter how many patches or updates would've been released.
"Ultimately, it was just going to be a bad game," said Wilson. "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."
While delays in gaming happen all the time, don't forget that EA Sports releases titles like clockwork, ahead of the beginning of the sports seasons, so getting it out in October was crucial.
Wilson also talked about the layoffs done at EA Canada, after it shifted the basketball franchise to EA Tiburon, the team also responsible for other series including the extremely popular Madden NFL.
"This is not about the current Elite team failing," Wilson said. "In fact, I think they did a tremendous job to get to where they did. I'm very proud of their willingness to jump in and take a risk and try and reinvent the business."
Sadly, as you could see, the team failed, and basketball fans need to quench their passion with NBA Jam, which was recently released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as well as for the Wii, back in October.