Mike Wang Has Left EA Canada and the NBA Live Development Team

[Kully]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Terrrible news.

I liked knowing there was a guy that you can trust will try and bring the simulation aspect into Live. Although I didn't completely like Live this year, it made some serious steps to contend. Losing a guy like Mike sure is a gutshot.

[Court_vision]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Sorry for forshadowing this guys, I feel like I put out bad Karma.

I am pretty sure he was gone before Patch 2 came out. The NCAA guys were called in to do that patch, so don't beat yourself up. LOL

23...I am with you man. It's sad for us as basketball game guys.

There's just no way in hell LIVE 11 is going to be any good with the main guys taken off the project. Low sales / development team moved / 2K completely dominant in the 'SIM' style market.

Writing is on the wall......pretty clearly.

Personally, after the way they completely screwed us with NCAA (my dynasty is stuck with repeated freezing and there's not going to be any patches) it's going to be an easy decision for me to give up on this series now that Beluba has gone.

[Behindshadows]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Wow for real EA?

This is sad for me as a basketball gamer... Its a good chance im done with this series period. I see no real desire to deliver

No doubt, I just came and read through the rest of this thread. No Mike, no Marcus...wtf!!! The two key parts that drew us to this title all together is now, no longer with the future projects.

I mean, is it me or did Mike Wang, gameplay input and elements make this the best Live game in years or decades.

Is it me, or did Marcus's input and constant eye of details on accessories and players, change the way we looked at EA's corporation at a whole.

These two guys brought the attention and respect level back to EA Sports and Live series as a whole. But now they are gone! WOW!!!

I still like a few other kats on their team, and Live 11, better deliver big, because if it doesn't. I will be done with NBA games all together. Because the competition fell off track after Mike's departure and after their 8 series.

[BrianFifaFan]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Sorry for forshadowing this guys, I feel like I put out bad Karma.

No, you should have just bought about 100,000 copies of NBA Live! That would have made for good karma! You tried, I tried, but I guess it wasn't enough...

[23]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

I blame the lack of sales to not making a good product.

EA lost people's trust, and this one right here doesn't help.

No amount of hype can repair whats going on right now. No matter how many videos are put out or how much the word NEW pops up in online ads, its not going to work this time.

All of the suggestions and wishlists (useless) mean nothing. All the frustrations and head scratchers wont go away because you just broke down the last two pieces of the series that was the main reasons people trusted this game once more.

[Court_vision]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

I blame the lack of sales to not making a good product.

EA lost people's trust, and this one right here doesn't help.

.

Honestly, I don't think they care too much about 'trust' and stuff. Look at the NCAA freezing thread here...tonnes and tonnes of guys with broken dynastys / freezing and yet not a single respnsonse from anyone at EA. Just a tokenary "there's not likely to be a patch" post months back.

They'll bring in some guy who's good at PR and ask him to hype the game up for 11. Then move on.

I've always bought their products but the complete lack of response re NCAA freezing has been really dissapoiting.

Moving on Mike and Marcus...........no support for NCAA....

Pretty clear..........

[rockchisler]

Re: Mike Wang Has Left EA Canada and the NBA Live Development Team

Thanks Mods for Merging my thread here

[Pared]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

And the forums are a-fire.

[backbreaker]

Re: Mike Wang Has Left EA Canada and the NBA Live Development Team

Maybe, just maybe they will get picked up by SCEA SD, they took the year off on the bball game, maybe if mike doesn't mind living in San Diego and it clear that SCEA isn't worried about sales with that game, it probably sold 3 games in 3 years and they still make it.

So Mike if you're reading this go to SCEA SD and put your stamp on it. They have so many ex minor league ball players for the baseball game, and SCEA allowed them to stay sim oriented and build on the game year after year and the sales just caught up to the franchise this past year.

[23]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Honestly, I don't think they care too much about 'trust' and stuff. Look at the NCAA freezing thread here...tonnes and tonnes of guys with broken dynastys / freezing and yet not a single respnsonse from anyone at EA. Just a tokenary "there's not likely to be a patch" post months back.

They'll bring in some guy who's good at PR and ask him to hype the game up for 11. Then move on.

I've always bought their products but the complete lack of response re NCAA freezing has been really dissapoiting.

Moving on Mike and Marcus...........no support for NCAA....

Pretty clear..........

No offense to anyone but it was as clear as day that NCAA was in bad shape before release and at release. The last time they barely if at all released any media was during Live 2007 and that was a disaster of a game, and the straw that made them lose their fanbase.

The constant changes to me shows some serious instability and I just cannot see how anyone can just stick to that.

If all 11 turns out to be is big hype you can expect the small base they have to desert full force, and its sad because we will have quickly went from 3-5 basketball games including college to 1.

[GSW]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

anyways.

The thing that sucks is you get a team together and you dont even let them get multiple titles under thier belt before things are disbanded...seems like...well its obvious something else was going on.

makes no sense to bring these guys together then just call it quits.

oh well ;/

[kcxiv]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Per Ron's Twitter...There is huge news on the NBA front tomorrow. Be on the lookout in the morning.

hmmmmm....

[BrianFifaFan]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Per Ron's Twitter...There is huge news on the NBA front tomorrow. Be on the lookout in the morning.

hmmmmm....

If he goes back, it's really "game over..."

[blackflash83]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

Someone gave me a small indication about this a few months back when it was clear that the LIVE 10 sales weren't all that good. (worse than LIVE 09 actually).

Marcus was moved and I heard the game was going to go in a whole new direction. I didn't want to post anything as I've had a tonne of respect for Beluba right back to NBA Inside Drive.

He's always been a great communicator...so, when he says nothing for months + I know he wasn't involved with patch 2 at all...then you start to read between the lines.

Now that's official........very, very dissapointing.

EA will post a tonne of rhetoric about "we want to make the best game possible"........and that's absolute crap.

EA want sales. Nothing else.

Marcus being moved on and Beluba "let go" = the end of the line for NBA Live.

This series is officially dead unless you like arcade stuff. Letting Beluba go basically is conceeding the sim market to 2K.

Sad day.

Good luck to Mike in whatever he does from here on.

CV,

Two things with your post that I'm going to immediately clarify. First off Marcus wasn't forced off of NBA LIVE. Marcus was offered a great opportunity with another game team and he accepted the offer. Marcus has done a lot for the NBA LIVE team and he's definitely an example I look to regarding being a good community leader. I aspite to do the same good work that Marcus did for the community and I know he's been great with all of you here on OS.

Secondly, your point regarding Mike being let go is NOT true at all. Mike chose to leave EA on his own and go back to the US. This was HIS decision and no one pushed him to leave the company. Mike is an awesome guy to work with and he has a TON of passion for what he does. It was definitely disappointing for me to hear that he was leaving but in the end he had to do what was best for him and for his family. Mike's contributions to NBA LIVE have been huge. You only need to look at where LIVE 10 is compared to where LIVE 09 was. He brought a lot to the team and the team worked well with him.

Although Mike has left EA, a lot of you believe that the NBA LIVE series is done and you all couldn't be further from the truth. While Mike definitely brought a lot of great ideas for NBA LIVE 10, it took a TEAM to get the game to where it is right now. Everyone on the development team was united in the vision that they wanted NBA LIVE to be back among the elite of sports games. LIVE 10 took significant steps towards that goal and NBA LIVE 11 will take even greater strides. We have a great team of people that want to see this game back on top, they're all committed to seeing this game succeed. Although Mike is not on the team anymore that doesn't mean that the game has no hope. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James couldn't win championships by themselves it takes a TEAM to do that.

I understand a lot of you have a great deal of respect for Mike, I feel the same as all of you. Mike is amazing and he does his job better than anyone, however we still have a great team here working on the game and they are committed to giving you a basketball experience you all deserve.

[Court_vision]

Re: Wheres Mike Wang?

CV,

Two things with your post that I'm going to immediately clarify. First off Marcus wasn't forced off of NBA LIVE. Marcus was offered a great opportunity with another game team and he accepted the offer. Marcus has done a lot for the NBA LIVE team and he's definitely an example I look to regarding being a good community leader. I aspite to do the same good work that Marcus did for the community and I know he's been great with all of you here on OS.

Secondly, your point regarding Mike being let go is NOT true at all. Mike chose to leave EA on his own and go back to the US. This was HIS decision and no one pushed him to leave the company. Mike is an awesome guy to work with and he has a TON of passion for what he does. It was definitely disappointing for me to hear that he was leaving but in the end he had to do what was best for him and for his family. Mike's contributions to NBA LIVE have been huge. You only need to look at where LIVE 10 is compared to where LIVE 09 was. He brought a lot to the team and the team worked well with him.

Although Mike has left EA, a lot of you believe that the NBA LIVE series is done and you all couldn't be further from the truth. Although Mike is really good at what he does, at the end of the day Mike is just ONE man. While Mike definitely brought a lot of great ideas for NBA LIVE 10, it took a TEAM to get the game to where it is right now. Everyone on the development team was united in the vision that they wanted NBA LIVE to be back among the elite of sports games. LIVE 10 took significant steps towards that goal and NBA LIVE 11 will take even greater strides. We have a great team of people that want to see this game back on top, they're all committed to seeing this game succeed. Although Mike is not on the team anymore that doesn't mean that the game has no hope. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James couldn't win championships by themselves it takes a TEAM to do that.

When we're able to start announcing some of what's going down with NBA LIVE 11 you will all understand why I am excited to see what all of you will have to say about the game. I understand a lot of you have a great deal of respect for Mike, I feel the same as all of you. However, that doesn't diminish the team's capabilities and I strongly believe that ALL of you will see that the NBA LIVE 11 team is committed to recreating NBA basketball in a way that all of you will enjoy.

Flash

I appreciate the response. I work in the "real world" too man, I know you've got to put a positive spin on it. That's your job and I appreciate it.

You jump in here as it's your job to do 'damage control'. Fair enough.

If you guys really do give a crap about the basketball gaming community you might want to read this thread on NCAA freezing and actually respond. I am not alone in saying that we are kind of tired of the whole "hey, we are working on something great" rhetoric. Get out and support your products better man. Don't keep walking away from stuff and then expecting everyone is just going to forget stuff like this below:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ing-issue.html