Let's be real, everyone wants to see NBA Live come back for one reason or another - whether that's because they actually enjoy the game, or the just want to see more competition in the basketball sim space, but as it stands, 2K is just that far ahead that it is really difficult to justify an NBA Live release UNLESS it is that good of a game.
In saying this, I think the only option for EA is make drastic changes to its pricing and game model to compete. A lot of you won't like this suggestion, but I believe the best step forward for NBA Live is to truly become a live service game - similar to popular MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV, paying a monthly subscription fee to retain access. Since this is purely a sports game which doesn't have as drastic iterative improvements year-on-year, I think a lower price tag is justifiable, ie. $36 initial which gives you a free 6 months, then $4 per month or $40 for 12 months. Offline play should still be possible, and could be maintained through a mandatory login after 36 hours of offline game activity (which can then be resynced upon log on to NBA Live Online), at which point it returns to a trial state ie. can only play as 1 of 4 teams in a quick play mode. Is there a case to be made for inclusion of the game in EA Play for free / cost reduction, maybe, but that may make it unsustainable from a maintenance and iterative gameplay improvement perspective. At its core, most of the revenue should be made via subscriptions that incur the majority of the cost, it's about time EA stepped up to the plate and show that it can be better for the consumer than 2K regarding microtransactions - which should never be enhance the game play experience, only cosmetics, and at a highly affordable price (single digits for multiple cosmetics), unlike what we see in Valorant or League of Legends where they can cost $30+ for a single piece, which in some cases, you aren't even guaranteed to get.
Every season / year is a new reset, all perpetually online modes like ultimate team are erased / archived so you can start again fresh - this isn't to say that your ultimate team is lost forever, it just can't be played in competitive, as current season cards come into play. Multiple cosmetic-only battlepasses could be added throughout each season that can be worked on at any time and are given to all players, whilst premium sets / bundles (designer / celebrity collabs) can be purchased via microtransactions and kept indefinitely. Battlepasses can stay for multiple seasons as well, so players who join NBA Live in 2025 can still earn the rewards from 2024, giving them more reasons to play. Cosmetics and achievements are all tied to your account, so whenever you make and level up or increase the overall of a created player, you can retain all the stuff that you got from potentially years ago.
For offline and The One or franchise related modes, NBA Live can have player data updated throughout the years and retain multiple years running back, that can be downloaded from the servers with ease. For example - if you start a career in 2024 that season by the time the NBA 2025-26 season has begun, the NBA roster and draft will be reflected to more accurately match reality by the time that you do catch up in your virtual career, so theoretically, you could play one career for multiple years, and have each season accurately reflect the skills and landscape of NBA players. Or if you are playing H2H, being able to select the '15 Cavs or '21 Bucks because you have the official '15 / '21 NBA season roster downloaded.
And hear me out, NBA Live becomes the premier way to play basketball on PC - with great support, optimisation and console cross-play utilising anti-cheat, you keep the audience large and capitalise on 2K's laziness. If there is a way to integrate this into NBA Live Mobile, even better; the competition is getting even fiercer with NBA Infinite entering the mix, which might I say, might be the best mobile ONLINE basketball game.
Let's be real, everyone wants to see NBA Live come back for one reason or another - whether that's because they actually enjoy the game, or the just want to see more competition in the basketball sim space, but as it stands, 2K is just that far ahead that it is really difficult to justify an NBA Live release UNLESS it is that good of a game.
In saying this, I think the only option for EA is make drastic changes to its pricing and game model to compete. A lot of you won't like this suggestion, but I believe the best step forward for NBA Live is to truly become a live service game - similar to popular MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV, paying a monthly subscription fee to retain access. Since this is purely a sports game which doesn't have as drastic iterative improvements year-on-year, I think a lower price tag is justifiable, ie. $36 initial which gives you a free 6 months, then $4 per month or $40 for 12 months. Offline play should still be possible, and could be maintained through a mandatory login after 36 hours of offline game activity (which can then be resynced upon log on to NBA Live Online), at which point it returns to a trial state ie. can only play as 1 of 4 teams in a quick play mode. Is there a case to be made for inclusion of the game in EA Play for free / cost reduction, maybe, but that may make it unsustainable from a maintenance and iterative gameplay improvement perspective. At its core, most of the revenue should be made via subscriptions that incur the majority of the cost, it's about time EA stepped up to the plate and show that it can be better for the consumer than 2K regarding microtransactions - which should never be enhance the game play experience, only cosmetics, and at a highly affordable price (single digits for multiple cosmetics), unlike what we see in Valorant or League of Legends where they can cost $30+ for a single piece, which in some cases, you aren't even guaranteed to get.
Every season / year is a new reset, all perpetually online modes like ultimate team are erased / archived so you can start again fresh - this isn't to say that your ultimate team is lost forever, it just can't be played in competitive, as current season cards come into play. Multiple cosmetic-only battlepasses could be added throughout each season that can be worked on at any time and are given to all players, whilst premium sets / bundles (designer / celebrity collabs) can be purchased via microtransactions and kept indefinitely. Battlepasses can stay for multiple seasons as well, so players who join NBA Live in 2025 can still earn the rewards from 2024, giving them more reasons to play. Cosmetics and achievements are all tied to your account, so whenever you make and level up or increase the overall of a created player, you can retain all the stuff that you got from potentially years ago.
For offline and The One or franchise related modes, NBA Live can have player data updated throughout the years and retain multiple years running back, that can be downloaded from the servers with ease. For example - if you start a career in 2024 that season by the time the NBA 2025-26 season has begun, the NBA roster and draft will be reflected to more accurately match reality by the time that you do catch up in your virtual career, so theoretically, you could play one career for multiple years, and have each season accurately reflect the skills and landscape of NBA players. Or if you are playing H2H, being able to select the '15 Cavs or '21 Bucks because you have the official '15 / '21 NBA season roster downloaded.
And hear me out, NBA Live becomes the premier way to play basketball on PC - with great support, optimisation and console cross-play utilising anti-cheat, you keep the audience large and capitalise on 2K's laziness. If there is a way to integrate this into NBA Live Mobile, even better; the competition is getting even fiercer with NBA Infinite entering the mix, which might I say, might be the best mobile ONLINE basketball game.
2K continues to take from EA. 2K is suffering and it’s proven every year since the release of Nba Live 19 I realized how advanced the gameplay is and it’s still being worked out till this day. I noticed that ever since Nba Live was discontinued 2K has been releasing the same game because it’s own greed has caused it to cower from its only competitor that makes it greater every year to the point where it is blinded by it’s own pride and glamour. Everything that glitters is not gold.Everyone has their time to shine and I think it’s time to usher in the new dynasty. In my opinion I believe 2K should take the back seat to Nba Live and let them be great again because it is already inevitable but they are trying to suppress EA through licensing contracts and bad business. Don’t get me wrong I’ve always enjoyed 2K but even more so when I had two games to play and draw new ways to expand and build on what we are working on and enjoying together. Which is an art we don’t get to appreciate anymore, and it is truly missed. Further more with the release of college football one can only hope for another college basketball game that helped to create the better NBA game following right after and vise versa. Being able to patch up things missed in the previous releases for the next game was key instead of waiting annually to get everything right. Before we had two chances to improve on gameplay and features to ensure when the next title released it wouldn’t be a bust. Keeping the community more active and creative to create the best product. Nba live 06-10 next gen along with march madness was a time to be alive and be a fan/gamer. We had twice the time in a year to create the best games. And with NBA live 10 and march madness 10 I believe that’s where the sabotage began because EA MADE A STATEMENT THAT STANDS TILL THIS DAY. A MASTERPIECE THAT 2K CONTINUES TO EMULATE BUT NOT TRULY RECREATE TILL PRESENT DAY… MIKE WANG SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT EA AS WELL AS 2K AND CONTINUED TO PUSH THE BAR TO CREATE WHAT WE ALL LOVE TILL THIS DAY. Those games are quietly being erased from history because of the selfishness and greed of nba 2K and fans are truly unhappy. NBA LIVE CURRENT GEN WOULD BE A GREAT GAME IF THEY NEVER REVERTED BACK TO THE SKINNY NET BECAUSE IT TOOK AWAY FROM THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BEAUTY OF THE GRAPHICS THE GAME POSSESSED LIKE I SAID NBA LIVE 10 WAS THE CLOSEST TO PERFECTION IF WE MIXED THAT WITH NBA LIVE 19 WE WOULD HAVE ALL THE GAMES WE MISSED FROM 20-24
INCLUDING NBA LIVE 09 for PERFECTING ALL STAR WEEKEND. NBA LIVE 06 IS FUN TO PLAY ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE CPU AND ONLINE VERSES….MAKE NBA LIVE LEGENDARY AGAIN!!
✌🏾
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Like for real!!!! 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