Future Of NBA Live

I hope this message finds you well. I’d like to share some feedback and suggestions regarding the current state of basketball video games, particularly in comparison between NBA Live 19 and the current offerings from NBA 2K.

As someone who has spent considerable time in the basketball gaming community—known online as Trapway666 and currently ranked #1 on the Xbox NBA Live 19 leaderboards—I believe there is significant unmet demand for a high-quality, innovative basketball game. Unfortunately, NBA 2K has failed to meet this demand in recent years. The experience is increasingly hindered by pay-to-win monetization, unbalanced matchmaking, and underwhelming gameplay mechanics across defense, dribbling, and shooting. The result is a game that feels more like a financial trap than a rewarding sports simulation.

By contrast, NBA Live 19 stands out for its responsive movement, intuitive dribble system, and fun, rewarding gameplay. However, it suffers from its own issues, most notably a lack of ongoing developer support and a declining online community. A major problem lies in matchmaking, where players routinely quit before games start due to disparities in character progression, leaving matches dominated by bots roughly 80% of the time.

Moreover, NBA Live 19 contains underutilized assets and content—animations and cosmetics that were never made available, a leaderboard system that rewards exploitative teammate grade methods rather than skill, and neglected community features. These oversights have unfortunately prevented the game from reaching its full potential.

Over time, members of the NBA Live community like myself have discovered methods to access content that was not originally intended to be available in the game. For example, we found a way to retrieve original NBA Live 18 traits on Nba Live 19 directly from the game disc and learned how to duplicate saved data across multiple Xbox accounts.

In response to the removal of certain unlockable items and animations —some of which were inexplicably taken out of the store or discontinued before many players had a chance to access them thanks to a disengaged dev team—the community took matters into its own hands. By sharing duplicated builds and unlockables with one another, players are now able to preserve and enjoy content that had otherwise become inaccessible thanks to poor front office leadership.

This level of coordination among players highlights a passionate and committed community that stepped in to support itself in the absence of ongoing developer engagement. The lack of long-term support from the front office ultimately led to players forming their own network of resource sharing, simply to keep the experience fun and rewarding for everyone still invested in the game. We have hosted many discord leagues from 5's to 3's to 1on1's.

Despite this, NBA Live 19 still holds the better blueprints for a greater basketball experience than what 2K is providing the gamers. I strongly urge the development team to consider building on its foundation. The core gameplay mechanics and animations from Live 19 should be retained and enhanced. Touch up the passing system and pass catch system. Punish players for quitting too often in short amounts of time. There's so much that can be done and talked about to not want to market this experience while 2K is hitting rock bottom, now would be the time to bounce back!!! Give the players a TON of  Additional courts, especially outdoor settings, along with deeper creation tools and customization options, would add tremendous value. A better clothing system that makes all items available, as well as access to previously locked animations, would greatly benefit the player experience. The current leaderboard system needs to be reworked to better reflect individual performance rather than encouraging exploitative tactics. Introducing seasonal content or structured competitive seasons would improve engagement and longevity. Most importantly, the game should focus on supporting player-created characters, as most online players prefer them over official NBA athletes, making an NBA license unnecessary for success. Let's hope EA can partner with some of the superfan gamers of the game for their next basketball project. I would love to be apart of it Just let me know EA let me know, you got my email......

I understand NBALIVE19 too well, perhaps more than 99.9 percent of players that ever played this game.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this feedback. There is a strong and passionate community eager to support a developer who listens and innovates.

Sincerely,
Trapway666
#1 on Xbox NBA Live 19 Leaderboards (3v3 Mode)

A day 1 player that never stopped playing the game and has played every month since release

You can always add me on xbox "Trapway666"