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

[crques]

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.

[MHammer113]

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

[Jadakiss88]

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.

[Jadakiss88]

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.

[khaliib]

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.

[davel]

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

[biggiejerseys]

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.

[ggsimmonds]

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.

[stlstudios189]

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

[ven0m43]

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.