EA Sports Delays Return of NBA Sim to 2012

It has been my gut feeling all along that there would be no simulation NBA title from EA Sports released this year. The damage done by the near release of NBA Elite 11 was too much to recover from quickly, especially given the studio move from EA Canada to Tiburon which would surely hold up the process. When it was discovered that the team hadn’t even been put together at the point the move was announced it became clear it wasn’t going to get done in a single development cycle.

EA Sports has now confirmed that no NBA sim will be released for the upcoming season, giving 2K Sports free reign on the market yet again with NBA 2K12. EA Sports will return with an NBA sim (certain not to be named NBA Elite) in fall 2012.

“As planned, our next NBA simulation title is in development at our Tiburon Studio in Orlando,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “We have top talent on the game, and we’re giving the new development team time to deliver a superior experience. We’re making great strides and looking forward to launching a new game next year.”

Again this is not a surprise and from a development standpoint is the right move to make. Hopefully they can reboot the series and not completely mishandle it the way they did with the attempt at Elite. At least they are giving themselves the time needed to get it right. One has to wonder though what then EA CEO John Riccitiello meant by “We’re EA Sports, for Christ’s sake” when asked in December whether the company would deliver the new game this coming year.