EA Sports won’t be scoring the slam dunk this year.
It looks like NBA 2K20 will be the only option for players to run on the basketball court this year. EA Sports has once again benched its current contender.
During an earnings call that took place earlier today, Electronic Arts confirmed it has “scrapped” NBA Live 20, the latest entry in its troubled b-ball franchise. This choice follows the somewhat lackluster release of last year’s NBA Live 19: The One, which failed to resonate with an audience on the same level as NBA 2K19.
To further confirm the news, the official NBA Live Twitter account posted the following tweet. Despite these issues, the development team is looking forward to the future and bringing a new experience for the franchise to the Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5.
— EA SPORTS NBA LIVE (@EASPORTSNBA) October 29, 2019
This news has generated several responses from the community with somewhat mixed results. Some had hopes that NBA Live would return to the former glory of its earlier days. Others, however, suggested that NBA Live should take a backseat to the return of more arcade-themed franchises, like NBA Street or NBA Jam.
This move wasn’t the first time that EA Sports has canceled a game in its basketball series. Mere days before its release, the company shelved NBA Elite 11 several years ago, following inadequate response from a downloadable demo. And the series took years to recover after, with NBA Live 13 canceled as well. It eventually returned with NBA Live 14, though with generally poor responses from critics and fans alike.
Here’s hoping that EA Sports considers a new direction for its basketball games. NBA 2K already has the sim court covered, so this may be an excellent time to bring in something else. After all, it has been over a decade since NBA Street made the rounds. We could use a Homecourt 2.
In the meantime, NBA 2K20 is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
