NBA Elite 11 cancelled

By Fred Dutton Published 2 November, 2010

EA Tiburon taking over next year.

NBA Elite 11's status has changed from 'delayed' to 'cancelled', publisher EA has announced.

EA's John Schappert made the announcement at an EA investor call today. He went on to add that the franchise would be back next year, with the development reins being picked up by Madden/Tiger Woods studio EA Tiburon.

No reason was offered for the cancellation but it's clear that there have been problems at the publisher's EA Canada outpost, where the game was being made. The publisher made 100 redundancies at the developer last month.

Sports fans will have to settle on the excellent NBA Jam for their b-ball fix, out now on Wii and arriving on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 26th November.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sfp_noodle #1 2 years ago

    No-one really cares now that NBA 2K11 is out. As always though, EG's ignorance to the american sport means there hasn't been a review and won't be a review judging by the fact an NBA game hasn't been reviewed by them in 4 years or so. NBA 2K11 is brilliant by the way to anyone interested. Highly reccomended.

    I find EG's selective review policy a bit baffling. We might not play baseball over here, but MLB: The Show is one of the best sports game ever made, even more so than Fifa IMO. But despite EG occasionally reviewing games from across the pond for our collonial cousins, some of them are terrible.

    Why a brilliant game such as MLB does not get imported and reviewed is shocking. Not only that, but last years WWE game didn't get a review either. What's the reason behind that? If they can bare rubbish games enough to give them low scores such as Quantum Thoery, why can't they review good games that deserve decent scores?
    Edited by sfp_noodle at 02/11/10 @ 22:14

  • meggsy #2 2 years ago

    "NBA ELITE 11 is due to be released 2011 on PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net."

    I've got a scoop on this game, but it'll cost ya...

  • Machetazo #3 2 years ago

    Doesn't EG know about NBA 2K11 either, since the article recommends for everyone to wait until Jam, for their next b-ball fix?

  • DarthKebab #4 2 years ago

    NBA 2k11 along with NHL 11 (the EA one) are the best sports titles out, sure they take an age to learn but once you do it is so rewarding.

    oops, forgot about MLB The Show too, though that game is realistic it can be really frustrating if you are getting your arse kicked because a single game lasts so long.

  • vmanb #5 2 years ago

    @stp noodle. At least they managed to review one of the biggest blockbusters of the year being Naught bear. Your dead right though there ignorance to certain game genres is baffling

  • makeamazing #6 2 years ago

    I think that is alittle harsh, there are tons of new releases every week, on multiple platforms (including download and mobile phone), some games take along time to play (Fallouts, AC, MMOs), and you of course want them to properly play a game to give it a correct score.... BUT with all that going on, you expect them to review a game about baseball or basketball, I mean seriously, how many copies would that sell in Europe ... its a case reviewing what the market dictates.

    Yes i appreciate you might want to see something particular, but its not sensible is it.

    With regards to Naughty Bear, that was considered a average sized relase, but it didnt sell as well as expected, so should they have reviewed it based on the buzz around it, or should they have waited and then got slated for not reviewing it quick enough.

    I would be interested in the sales comparison between those american based sports and naughty bear though :D
    Edited by makeamazing at 02/11/10 @ 22:45

  • ZizouFC #7 2 years ago

    Yet iPhone games get 2 page reviews?

  • makeamazing #8 2 years ago

    The iphone stuff is usually a roundup, so its multiple games in one 2 or 3 page article. So again, i dont see that as a problem.

    But some of the big iphone games sell many more copies than a AAA game, Angry birds has sold how many :)

  • sfp_noodle #9 2 years ago

    @ZizouFC

    Same with Facebook games. Whichever way you spin it, its ridiculous behaviour from EG. They're a video game website and their dedicated channels show the major consoles, not Facebook or iPhone. So 2 page reviews for fucking farmville yet not one word on a game people with GAMES CONSOLES care about is a slap in the face to the loyal EG following.

  • PixelPirate #10 2 years ago

    Noooo. I randomly downloaded the demo the other day and had so much fun playing it i was ready to hand over my cash. And not a single NBA game has floated my boat since the original Sony produced one on the PSone.

    Sad Panda.

  • gjgjg #11 2 years ago

    holy jimmony, although not a surprise considering the whole story around this game.
    Sad to see another studio get chopped up. Yet more casualties. Especially considering the pressure they were under to 'revolutionise' the game in very little time.

    However fair play for having the balls to pull the game because it wasn't up to scratch. It would have set the franchise's rep 3 or 4 years back had it been pushed out to recoup some costs.

    Also NBA live 10 will have roster updates anyway.
    Edited by gjgjg at 03/11/10 @ 12:03

  • VTurk #12 2 years ago

    i care as nba elite was shapeing up to be an amazing game much better than nba 2k

  • paulf #13 2 years ago

    As long as they keep going in the freestyle direction that the demo suggested then it will be worthwhile to polish it and make it great for next year, personally I don't think they wanted to go manu e manu with MJ23 and NBA 2K11

  • nemesisND1derboy #14 2 years ago

    Damn meggsy beat me to it! This is a shock though. Surely it would be better to release an OK game and recover some of the loss made on producing the game than to cancel it and lose it all! Baffling to be honest.

  • Darren #15 2 years ago

    I suppose that means the demo is a collector's item now then? ;)

    NBA 2K11 is excellent this year anyway (and only £12 on the PC: bargain!) and with NBA Elite 11 initially delayed to 2011 I suppose it wouldn't have sold very well anyway had it been released so it's understandable that EA have cut their losses. I guess the longer development period might prove beneficial for next year's game as it isn't often that EA Sports games get a two-year development cycle. Maybe NBA Elite 12 will ship without major bugs and be a much better game as a result?

  • jayc4life #16 2 years ago

    @DarthKebab: I noticed the lack of NHL knowledge here too. Which is surprising because unlike the other US sports games, there's a fair few European leagues and teams in the game. So I reposted the review I wrote for pressxordie.com and it's sitting on the front page in the user reviews section at the moment.

    If they're really worried about not having the manpower to cover their bases with all this stuff, sub-contract to the community and arrange a pay out for promoting a user review to the frontpage if they don't have the time to review it themselves.

  • vmanb #17 2 years ago

    @paulf , Did you manage to get skyplayer working?. Also i've seen quite an improvement in picture quality since the update which is good

  • TeRm0z #18 2 years ago

    Love the fact that Zavvi is avertising it on the sidebar at same time you read about the game's cancellation.

  • simsini #19 2 years ago

    NBA 2K11 is probably the best basketball game ever. No wonder this was cancelled, EA cannot compete. It's a shame they have an exclusive NFL license, as the NFL 2K games were better too.

  • Darren #20 2 years ago

    @brod - I doubt Tiburon will be coding NBA Elite 12 completely from scratch; my own guess is that they'll use the engine and many of the assets and code from the cancelled game (we all know EA believe in recycling!). That will give them more time to work on the actual gameplay itself.

  • SomaticSense #21 2 years ago

    From main article: "Sports fans will have to settle on the excellent NBA Jam for their b-ball fix, out now on Wii and arriving on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 26th November."

    Erm, aren't you forgetting that other basketball game recently released? You know, the one that is widely regarded as probably the best overall sports title ever released, and as a lot of people suspect the quality of which was more than likely the reason for NBA Elite's cancellation?

    Makes sense though, as NBA 2K11 has been pretty much ignored throughout the rest of the site as well.