Whenever a new generation is starting up, it’s also time to start thinking about game cancellations. Generation changes can be rough on studios, and it’s led to a lot of bad launch sports games, some cancellations, and even the beginning of the end for some sports games as properties. The NLSC’s Friday Five is always a good read, but I loved the one from this past Friday because it highlights cancelled NBA video games that weren’t called NBA Elite 11.
We focus so much on NBA Elite 11 because it’s delay really was a massive moment in the battle between 2K and Live, and it was just so unique in that there was a demo out before the groundswell of negativity erupted from there for a late-stage cancellation. But there’s been more than one EA NBA game that has been cancelled throughout its history. EA opted out of making a PS3 port of NBA Live 07. If you go back further, there was no NBA Live 96 on the 3DO because even though Live was in its golden age then, it didn’t make financial sense to make a game on the expensive 3DO platform that year.
There’s plenty of good history tidbits in here, so if you like some easy reading in retrospective form scope out Andrew’s article over at the NLSC.
