[BQ32]

An and 1 mode would have been awesome 15 years ago especially if it wasn't just NBA jam gameplay but more realistic with the flashy ball handling and what not but I am not sure a large part of the community can even relate to that now. Especially given the great ball handling seen in actual nba games where Trae young is routinely nutmegging people, Kyrie is spinning people around, Harden is breaking ankles and dropping dudes, and curry is using combo dribble stepback and then shimmying after dropping all net with 2 people chasing him around. Most of the younger players now don't even watch full games anymore anyway the just watch highlights on instagram and ticktock so to them the NBA is basically And1 already. I also wouldn't put a lot of time into Fiba, as the American audience most likely will not want to relate to it at all.

But to be honestly the price of Partnering with the NBA is so high right now that I think it has left EA in a bind with what to do. Sales in recent years for the franchise have no where come close enough to even break even with licensing fees so they are probably debating if they should release an NBA product and hope it is good enough over a couple of years to be worthwhile in the long run by recouping costs. The NBA is a huge market and it might be worth taking the risk, especially with many consumers finally refusing to give 2k the benefit of the doubt any longer. But it is a big risk, and EA isn't about to invest a ton into a project that still loses money when they have other products sitting there generating a ton of cash no matter how poorly the product is reviewed or received by the fans in FIFA and Madden. NHL and UFC also have no competition so they can get away with bare minimal marketing and incremental improvements.

A better option to me is just to release a LIVE RUN game as a free to play franchise and scrap the NBA license fees all together. The One mode was Live's best mode anyway and the recreation of actual famous outdoor courts were a thing of beauty. This could simulate how most of us play basketball anyway, going to the court and hoping for a great game of pickup. They could fully invest in player individuality and have a bunch of different ball handling, shooting, layup, dunk, and footwork packages. Some would be available for free but many behind microtransactions. So you don't need to pay for a game but you might spend a couple dollars for a certain dribble packages etc. Maybe to fully customize a single player it costs like $10. And then of course they could monetize a fluid influx in gear and maybe partner up with actual clothing brands and designers to really lean into that custom clothing culture. They could release season passes that at certain levels of play give you certain gear or outfits with maybe the main thing you can earn is a couple of animation packages and a pair of Jordan's while also allowing you to unlock some additional in game currency at certain levels that essentially pays for itself but keeps you invested through the whole season. They can then also offer a Pro-AM league where the big boys play with seasonal tournaments and twitch partnerships. This is the game I would make, take all that money you would consider throwing into an NBA license and invest it in a live service game of basketball without any gimmicks that doesn't need to be rethought every year and can continuously be built upon and updated. I would aim for this game to be the APEX LEGENDS of sports gaming.