Electronic Arts has announced that they will release a new NBA licensed game this Fall, however, the company is dropping the “Elite” branding and will call the new title NBA Live 13. The reasons behind the change of names was not revealed, but it is most likely an attempt to distance the upcoming game from the development nightmare surrounding the cancelled NBA Elite 11 back in 2010.
Original scheduled to launch in October 2010, NBA Elite 11 was delayed just prior to its release date and eventually cancelled after a demo revealed the broken state that the game was in. After the decision to drop the game EA’s CEO John Riccitiello explained that they could not “ship a product [they were not] proud of and compete for marginal share.”
The move allowed 2K Games to take control of the NBA market with their successful NBA 2K series, and left EA with the NBA Jam franchise as their only entry into the Basketball sports genre.
No real details are known about NBA Live 13 at this time, including what platforms the game is being developed for, but the title is almost certainly going to face an uphill battle to win back market share from 2K Games.
Source: Gamasutra
