NBA Live Loses Mike Wang

Some news today that could have huge effect on the future of the NBA Live series as provided by community manager Yaw Obiri-Yeboah. Lead Gameplay Designer Mike Wang has left the development team after just one year heading up the franchise. This is a discouraging development given the stature he was presented as having by EA Sports and the drastic improvements seen from NBA Live as of late.

Given the sales discrepancy between NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10 it is shaping up to be a critical year. While NBA Live 10 gained traction in terms of reviews and consumer response it actually fell further behind the competition in sales. With a concentration on profitability and cutting of titles that don’t make the grade it will be the sales performance of NBA Live 11 that could very well determine whether the series continues on or gets cut.