NBA Live is a series of basketball video games that was published by EA Sports . The series, which debuted in 1994, is the successor to the previous NBA Playoffs and NBA Showdown series.
24-422: Beginning in the late 2000s, NBA Live sales had dropped off compared to its main competitor, 2K 's NBA 2K series. The last released installment to date is 2018's NBA Live 19 . As of 2023, the series has been in an indefinite hiatus, and after the cancellations of NBA Live 20 and NBA Live 21 , there has not been any official confirmation by EA on whether or not the series will continue. The predecessor of
48-615: A partnership with Nickelodeon for licensed games based on the latter's TV shows. 2K Play therein also absorbed all assets of Take-Two's budget-range publisher Global Star Software , including the studio Cat Daddy Games , the game Carnival Games , and games based on Deal or No Deal . In January 2013, 2K obtained the rights to publish video games based on the professional wrestling company WWE . Christoph Hartmann , 2K's president , announced his resignation in May 2017. He had worked for Take-Two for roughly twenty years but did not state
72-525: A reason for his departure. He was succeeded by David Ismailer, previous chief operating officer (COO), later that month. The COO role was filled by Phil Dixon, formerly of Betfair , in November 2017, while Melissa Bell was hired as senior vice president and head of global marketing in April 2018. In September 2018, 2K announced 2K Foundations, a program that would "support underserved communities across
96-457: Is animated with very high accuracy. Player numbers were also visible. The game featured only eight of the sixteen teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs that year, as well as both NBA All-Star teams. The next game in the series was Bulls vs. Lakers , released in 1991, followed by Bulls vs. Blazers in 1992. Unlike the first game, these two releases were titled after the two teams who were in
120-486: Is mostly used to play Ultimate Team modes in the game. NBA Live 18 was released on September 15, 2017, and features players from the WNBA . It also added a new single player mode called The One , in which the player controls an NBA prospect throughout his career. NBA Live 19 was released on September 7, 2018, and expanded on The One , by adding the ability to make a female player, as well as other game modes. NBA Live 20
144-517: The BioShock series, which gave the player the ability to buy add on content for games. The addition of the launcher was criticized as it broke these games on Linux, including on the Steam Deck . Future releases from 2K also used the launcher, and in the case of Marvel's Midnight Suns , players discovered the launcher was impacting the game's performance. By August 2024, 2K began to phase out
168-576: The MS-DOS operating system. NBA Live 96 included the first fifth generation version, with the PlayStation, and also the first handheld games version, on the Game Boy. Sixth generation production started with NBA Live 2001 and continued all the way through NBA Live 2009 on the high selling PlayStation 2 . NBA Live 06 was the first to hit seventh generation consoles, after its release to
192-515: The NBA Finals the previous season, while the original release apparently chose the Lakers and Celtics due to both teams' historical success, in particular their rivalry in the 1980s . Each revision added more teams and players, as well as more signature moves. The series also included an Olympic basketball spinoff game, Team USA Basketball (1992) which uses the same engine. The final game in
216-776: The NBA Live series was the NBA Playoffs series, which featured Lakers vs. Celtics , released first in 1989 for MS-DOS -compatible PCs and later adapted for consoles in early 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive . This game was played from a horizontal view (while later versions moved to an isometric view before ultimately moving to 3D on newer consoles). The game was one of the first to feature an NBA license, containing both real NBA teams and player likenesses and signature moves. Details such as Horace Grant 's goggles are clearly visible, and Michael Jordan 's "Air Reverse Layup"
240-446: The NBA campaign, though additional ports were sometimes delayed until as late as January or February. After 16 consecutive seasons of releases, an effort to retool the game as NBA Elite 11 met with development troubles, and put the game on hiatus for three years. The series returned with NBA Live 14 in November 2013. The pioneer NBA Live 95 release was for fourth generation video game systems Sega Genesis and SNES , as well as
264-646: The Xbox 360. Finally, with the release of NBA Live 14 for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, EA continued its run on into eighth generation consoles. The game was released on PC each season until support was pulled after the NBA Live 08 season. The Create-A-Player feature was not available in the 1995 versions of the game, but has been a mainstay since NBA Live 96. NBA Live 99 was the first to feature Practice Mode and Multi-season play. Starting in NBA Live 2000 ,
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#1732780333129288-590: The company. The acquisition includes the rights to the Golf Club series, which had been relaunched as the PGA Tour 2K series through a license from the PGA Tour . Additionally, 2K announced it had secured a contract with Tiger Woods , who had previously been a key figure for Electronic Arts ' PGA Tour series, as an executive director and consultant for future PGA Tour 2K games, as well as his likeness for
312-695: The day before. Originally based in New York City , 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer . It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California . On January 24, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition of Visual Concepts , the developer of sports video game series like NBA 2K , NHL 2K , and MLB 2K . Take-Two paid Sega US$ 24 million for
336-554: The games. Later that month, 2K bought HookBang's games division in Austin, Texas , which had supported work on the NBA 2K series in the past. The studio was relocated to a new Austin location and rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin. In September 2022, 2K's customer support team was hacked, with certain user data stolen and put on sale. 2K released its own game launcher for computer users in 2022 atop quality of life updates to games in
360-612: The nation by refurbishing basketball courts in neighborhoods that need them the most". Microsoft partnered with 2K to establish gaming stations fitted with Xbox One S consoles at these courts. 2K Foundations planned to refurbish twelve basketball courts in several cities across the United States (including Cincinnati , Baltimore , Los Angeles , Chicago , and Cleveland ) within its first year. In March 2021, 2K acquired HB Studios , which had previously developed The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K21 for
384-452: The new label, which also absorbed the staff of Take-Two Licensing . In January 2006, the administration and marketing portions of 2K's New York City offices were heavily damaged by a five-alarm fire . In June 2007, the company closed these offices and relocated to Novato, California , bringing it closer to Visual Concepts. A third sub-label, 2K Play, was established with a focus on casual games in September 2007, with Take-Two announcing
408-422: The release. It wasn't until the fall of 2013, that the next game, NBA Live 14 , would be released. Prior to its release, EA Sports had sold 33.54 million copies of the video game series since NBA Live 95 , just falling short of its main competitor, NBA 2K 's 37.24 million copies sold since its inception in 1999. NBA Live 16 was released on September 29, 2015. NBA Live Mobile was released on July 6, 2016. It
432-770: The rosters in NBA Live 06 . NBA Live 2005 brought the addition of the Freestyle Air, NBA All-Star Weekend, which includes the Rookie Challenge, Three Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest, and the NBA All-Star Game, and Freestyle Challenge, which two players or more can play the Three Point Shootout or the Slam Dunk Contest. In NBA Live 08 , a limited number of international teams were added under FIBA 's license. This
456-580: The series featured NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams , that included some biggest names from five decades (50s to 90s). These teams could be used instantly, but to use the players as regular players (e.g. traded, played on regular NBA Teams) they needed to be unlocked. Through the series, some of the Legend rosters were changed for various reasons. Michael Jordan was on the '90s team through 2004 before being removed due to licensing in later versions. Spud Webb , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , and Tom Chambers were added to
480-471: The series was NBA Showdown 94 for the Sega Genesis before the transition to the NBA Live naming. In the fall of ‘94, the annual EA basketball release received a simpler title of NBA Live 95 . This naming pattern using the forthcoming year has continued, except for varying to use of all 4 digits of the year from 2000 to 2005 . Each version's initial release was in the fall near the start of
504-407: The studio, including its Kush Games subsidiary and the intellectual property of the 2K series. On the following day, the company established the 2K publishing label, consisting of the sub-labels 2K Games and 2K Sports, with the latter focusing on sports games. Visual Concepts and Kush Games, alongside Indie Built , Venom Games , PopTop Software , and Frog City Software , became studios of
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#1732780333129528-473: Was also the last release for the Microsoft Windows platform. NBA Live 09 added a feature called Dynamic DNA, the first concept of daily updates changing tendencies, rosters, and hot-cold streaks. After the release of NBA Live 10 , EA attempted to retool the series under a new name with NBA Elite 11 . However, the game was met with bad publicity and development problems before release and
552-681: Was canceled by the development team due to them trying to expand into the next generation of consoles, as announced on the team's Twitter . NBA Live 21 was also cancelled for the same reason. 2K (company) 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California . The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games , which had been acquired
576-529: Was cancelled (though a playable demo was released for download, and several copies of the full release found their way to customers). In November 2010, development of the franchise was moved from EA Canada studio to Florida-based Tiburon studio. It was eventually announced that the series' next installment would be released in Fall 2012 and would return to the NBA Live name as NBA Live 13 , but it would later be announced, on September 27, 2012, that they would cancel
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