2K Sports has retained its place atop the basketball simulation throne, and it looks like they’ll stay there for a while. The publisher proclaimed in a press release today that it has sold more than two million copies ofNBA 2K10worldwide, a 60% year-over-year improvement for the same October-through-January time frame (2K10’s sales increase was likely helped by its Wii and PSP versions, which did not exist forNBA 2K9). These sales numbers are all the more impressive for having come amid what was, by most accounts, a strong effort from EA inNBA Live 10(albeit one that sold even fewer units thanNBA Live 09).
But perhaps the more startling story is the news that Mike Wang, who defected fromNBA 2Kdeveloper Visual Concepts to become thelead gameplay designer onNBA Live, is returning to the Visual Concepts team after an 18-month stint at EA Canada. Wang was instrumental in the critical success ofLive 10from a gameplay standpoint, but now that he’s been welcomed back with open arms by 2K, he has somedamning words for his former employer, according to ESPN:
But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it’s just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the best games. […] With some of the creative decisions over at EA, it just made it difficult to stay there. They just want to make a different game than I had a vision for. […] For me, it was interesting to be at EA, but it was just hard to get stuff done.
2K’s Senior Vice President of Sports Development, Greg Thomas, even goes so far as to speculate that EA may move away from trying to compete withNBA 2Kin the basketball sim market:
… [N]ow they want to change things in a great way because they can’t afford to sell this many units through a three-year plan or a five-year plan. […] I think EA is going through an identity crisis with their basketball sim.
For its part, EA announced Wang’s departure first, perhaps hoping to soften its impact.NBA Livelead producer Sean O’Brien, in apost on the series’ In the Paint blog, left Wang with thanks and well-wishes. But this is a serious blow to EA’s basketball street cred, and it raises questions about the future of theNBA Livegames. It’s hard to imagine a world withoutNBA Live, especially since (unlike baseball or football) there’s no NBA license exclusivity, but perhaps EA is going in an arcade direction with its basketball games — and maybe theNBA Jamrevivalis the start.
Gamer: Mike Wang returns to 2K Sports[ESPN viaPastapadre]NBA LIVE Update[In the Paint]
