NBA Elite Being Moved to Tiburon, EA Canada Hit by Layoffs (Not Confirmed Yet)

[uponablackstar]

According to some 1up sources, Tiburon will now be handling the NBA franchise. Nothing has been confirmed, as of yet.

"History looks to be repeating itself at Electronic Arts. Sources tell 1UP that Tiburon will now be handling the NBA franchise.

The report follows a tweet from 3D Realm's George Broussard, who says that EA Canada has laid off more than 100 employees. Broussard also said that he has heard rumors of "large scale layoffs" at EA coming soon.

EA Canada was responsible for the development of NBA Elite 11, which has been delayed indefinitely. The studio also handles the NHL series. Need for Speed developer Black Box and EA Canada were consolidated in 2008.

If the reports are accurate, this would mark the second time in EA history that an important sports franchise has been transferred to Tiburon following a failure to launch. The first instance came when Visual Concepts failed to complete a PlayStation version of Madden NFL 96. The project was handed to Tiburon, which has been responsible for the series ever since."

[HoosierDaddy]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs



Sad...

Here's to hoping Tiburon can turn around the franchise, and develop some type of consistency with the franchise. I still have my bags packed and will travel to Orlando if they need me to

[CFRMIC$]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

RIP EA Canada

Tiburon sucks as well.

Madden is an arcade game, and Elite will join them.

[BobbyColtrane]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

Pardon my skepticism but Tiburon hasnt knocked my socks off lately...will this really be good for this woebegone game???

[sroz39]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

So lemme get this straight; good, hard-working people are getting laid off at EA Canada because some higher ups at EA decided to scrap a game well on it's way to becoming great and go in a completely different direction because THEY can't tell a good game from a bad one? Somebody high up the ladder has egg on their face over this decision yet a perfectly competent and talented studio (they proved that with some solid leadership and strong vision from Mike Wang, they can make a very good bball game) gets tossed like it's their fault. You can't always turn lemons into lemonade and the direction they wanted to go with Elite takes years, not months, to develop. Heck, EA didn't release an NHL 06 on 360 but came back strong with 07 to much applause.

I'm stunned if this is true. Getting rid of Visual Concepts worked out great for EA too, didn't it.....

[bigball12]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

Wow! This is shocking!

[Spectre]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

Let's say my faith in Tiburon and any sport, let alone basketball, is minimal at best.

2K is in good shape going forward for the next several years- its gonna take a while for them to build a good engine at Tiburon.

[noshun]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

wow, this is comedy. ...........1st hockey guys take over, now possibly football.. oh man.

[wileyboy747]

LOL...... c'mon EA, get it together. i still wont buy it anyway, but someone needs to give 2k some competition.

[AMYO]

Elite=The new madden

[Dewie12]

Way to go Mr. Moore keep up the good work.

Sorry to hear for all the workers. This economy is tough. All the best to them in the future.

[Wiffyjustus]

Re: 1UP: NBA Elite given to Tiburon, EA Canada mass layoffs

So lemme get this straight; good, hard-working people are getting laid off at EA Canada because some higher ups at EA decided to scrap a game well on it's way to becoming great and go in a completely different direction because THEY can't tell a good game from a bad one? Somebody high up the ladder has egg on their face over this decision yet a perfectly competent and talented studio (they proved that with some solid leadership and strong vision from Mike Wang, they can make a very good bball game) gets tossed like it's their fault. You can't always turn lemons into lemonade and the direction they wanted to go with Elite takes years, not months, to develop. Heck, EA didn't release an NHL 06 on 360 but came back strong with 07 to much applause.

I'm stunned if this is true. Getting rid of Visual Concepts worked out great for EA too, didn't it.....

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Steve_OS]

Re: NBA Elite Being Moved to Tiburon, EA Canada Hit by Layoffs (Not Confirmed Yet)

Interesting timing for this tweet.

@ryansantos Ryan Santos
Change is here. Big things to come.

http://twitter.com/#!/ryansantos/status/28959604025

[GaryT531]

EA suits you have made one heck of a mess, and you have no one but yourselves to blame. Prayers go out to the families of those who are losing their jobs.

[jWILL253]

Wow. Wow. WOOOOOW. EA just keeps on sticking it's foot in it's mouth. In exception to NHL 11 and FIFA 11, this has been a HORRIBLE year for EA Sports.

Note to the suits: let the devs make the game, not you. This is what's wrong with gaming and music these days: the suits think THEY'RE the stars, and THEY know what's going on, but they don't. In fact, they're more out of touch with the masses than ANYONE. So, we get hit with these gimmicks that they think will draw over the Wii/casual gamer crowd, but end up alienating loyal customers.

This exact same thing happened at Infinity Ward, minus any game-cancellation. The suits though Infinity Ward was expendable, and that they can have a game of similar quality with Treyarch. So, IW got the boot. Now, while Activision may end up getting the last laugh anyway, EA will not. Personally, I think we're seeing the collapse of EA Sports before our very eyes...