NBA Live 14 News Post

Sean O'Brien Issues Apology for NBA Live's Quality, Promises Improvements

04:28 PM - November 22, 2013 by The 24th Letter

Let's face it, it's not often you see a gaming company not only apologize for a lackluster release but also vow to make tangible improvements to the product before the next version releases.

NBA Live 14 Executive Producer Sean O'Brien is doing just that, commenting on the rough week the folks at EA have had with the largely hugely negative feedback on NBA Live 14 and vowing to improve the title.

"We hear loud and clear that some of you are disappointed in various aspects of NBA LIVE 14, and I�m sorry if the game doesn�t live up to your expectations," O'Brien said. "Looking at your feedback, we have laid out a plan to make NBA LIVE 14 a better game as quickly as we can."

The plan to improve NBA Live 14 will involve Twitch Live streams to teach the skills that will help make the experience with Live 14 a better one by teaching about the gameplay mechanics within the game as well as blogs on the EA website. Currently there are three new posts on the Live website: a controller guide, perfecting your style, and levels of dribble.

O'Brien is also promising tangible improvements to the game. Graphics and animations will see "drastic and immediate" improvements in the coming weeks and months within the game.

With such a negative reaction thus far to Live 14, it is definitely a good sign that EA is ramping up to improve the product post-launch with so much support. This bodes well for the series' future, but this also puts EA behind the 8-ball to truly improve the Live experience sooner rather than later.

Game: NBA Live 14Reader Score: 4/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS4 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 17 - View All

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Member Comments

# 61 Muzyk23 @ 11/23/13 08:22 AM

Authentic gameplay? Nope. No physics, no player movement!, no physicality. This is not authentic nba basketball.

Control? Nope. Players are too slow, there is lag and sluggishness to it. Player skate.

Connected experience? Nope again. Online reported unplayable due to lag, stutter and drops.

Ea Sports knows better what's wrong with their basketball title and don't you dare think otherwise or point them to things which community regards as broken.

It's all talk and nothing has changed since 2006.

# 62 jwtucker710 @ 11/23/13 08:31 AM

First of all, EA had the time to develop a good game, but not sure what all the obstacles were from EA's production end. Likely not O'Brien's fault; he could have been limited on certain things. That said, the graphics for LIVE 14 are what's holding it back. The gameplay, minus a few bugs, can be cleaned up. The menus, interface, and the overall game structure, are pretty good. And from what I have read, the gameplay is getting decent reviews (5-5). I say we give LIVE 14 another chance, and see what patches they can do moving forward (or if it will be an entire new upgrade in a month).
NBA 2K has its bugs, too.

# 63 WTF @ 11/23/13 09:05 AM

Looking forward to how this plays out. NBA 2k14's Day 1 patch was 2GB's to download, if I remember correctly. Wondering what type of "patch" they can issue to make an unplayable game, playable.

# 64 Boilerbuzz @ 11/23/13 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwtucker710


	First of all, EA had the time to develop a good game, but not sure what all the obstacles were from EA's production end. Likely not O'Brien's fault; he could have been limited on certain things. That said, the graphics for LIVE 14 are what's holding it back. The gameplay, minus a few bugs, can be cleaned up. The menus, interface, and the overall game structure, are pretty good. And from what I have read, the gameplay is getting decent reviews (5-5). I say we give LIVE 14 another chance, and see what patches they can do moving forward (or if it will be an entire new upgrade in a month). NBA 2K has its bugs, too.

Wait... What? Please show ONE review where gameplay scores that high. This is completely false. What are you trying to pull here?

And what does 2K have to do with this? Why should folks give Live another chance? This is the third strike! This post makes absolutely no sense.

# 65 rudeworld @ 11/23/13 10:24 AM

Sorry?? I didn't buy the game and never will buy another EA Baskettball game unless they some way bring back NBA STREETS VOL.2. I feel like the NBA LIVE/ELITE series is a flawed franchise. Where the guys over at 2K try to make the game feel and look authentic, EA on the other hand is looking to incorporate to much arcade into the game, from the visuals to the way the game feels and that's the messed up part. If your advertising the game as an authentic representation of the sport then do that.... don't half *** the consumer. IF THEY ARE TRULY SORRY, DROP THE PRICE OF THE GAME/BETA FROM $60 to $20!!!!!

# 66 Boilerbuzz @ 11/23/13 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maurice123


	If they make improvements with the upcoming patches then yes they can gain my trust.

Making improvements is easy. The question is how much of which ones.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

# 67 jcmreds @ 11/23/13 10:40 AM

EA knew they had a **** product and tried to hide that fact until after people bought their game; disgusting.

# 68 Cusefan @ 11/23/13 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcmreds


	EA knew they had a *** product and tried to hide that fact until after people bought their game; disgusting.*

What do y expect them to do, EA is a publicly traded video game company, their goal is to make money. Every company does this, do you think that movie Deliveryman would have given early copies to get reviewed. The obvious answer is no.

Read reviews then buy, I have not bought a truly terrible game since the advent of the internet. Anyone who blindly buys games deserves what they get. I do however feel bad for the kids who gets a PS4 or X1 for Christmas with NBA live as the only game, that would be a real kick in the balls.

# 69 utexas @ 11/23/13 10:55 AM

IMO, the game's visuals are the biggest problems. What can honestly be patched to address this? I've never seen a patch provide a huge bump to graphics.

# 70 WTF @ 11/23/13 11:17 AM

I don't know, the game is slow (sliders may help), the ball physics (or lack thereof) definitely don't help. The rebounding game is pretty rough. Floor spacing is good, but just due to the fact that the other players don't necessarily move. Animations are needed, badly. I can handle the player models, other "graphics", but this game needs a LOT of animations, transition animations, etc. We'll see. If they can update the game, and make it play a better game of basketball, then I'm all for it. Always nice to have alternatives, even if it's just for a 1 off or 2 off game to break up the monotony of playing the same game, over and over.

# 71 Boilerbuzz @ 11/23/13 11:54 AM

The more I think about that apology, the more I'm made to feel like a moron that doesn't know how to play a game and only cares about visuals.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

# 72 Coolade @ 11/23/13 12:14 PM

Can they just drop NBA live and bring this game back?

# 73 chi_hawks @ 11/23/13 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTF


	Looking forward to how this plays out. NBA 2k14's Day 1 patch was 2GB's to download, if I remember correctly. Wondering what type of "patch" they can issue to make an unplayable game, playable.

Same here. As much as I despise what EA and NBA Live 14 is all about, its good to have competition. Hope they get it turned around.

# 74 blackceasar @ 11/23/13 01:11 PM

Dear Sean O'Brien,

Look man, I don't know what goes on behind those closed doors at EA sports. None of us here do. We don't know if you have a lack of the RIGHT talent there, a lack of resources, a lack of time, or a combination of all three. We don't know if the root of how sub-par Live 14 is maybe due to the fat cat VP's who have joined the ranks of EA over the years with their Harvard MBA's that just look at overhead, bottom lines, the stock ticker, and the quarterly investor dividend reports. We here don't know any of that. We here don't care either. Why don't we care? Most fan's don't care how you guys or any company goes about putting out a QUALITY title, as long as you do it. Heck most of us don't even care if the title gets delayed a bit to make it actually worth 60.00.

So I've read your talking points letter about 30 times now, (no, really I have). You see I work in the marketing business. For MAJOR brands that I can't speak of here. I know about all the tricks, tactics, smoke screens, Jedi Mind tricks and what not marketers use on consumers not only to get them to buy a product, but also when things go south and damage control has to be done. 99% of the time it's disingenuous. I could see you sitting in a room with a bunch of fat cat board members who only view your company as place for them to get a nice salary and fat bonuses, not as a place to make a good product that people will spend their hard earned money on. I could see you having to run your letter by them first. I could see it up on a big PowerPoint being projected onto a screen there, and everyone is mulling it over, weighing in, telling you to change this sentence, or leave that our, or "make sure you mention this and that".

You see, if this had been 2003 when social media really had not been born yet..no Facebook, no Twitter, no Reddit, and nowhere near the message boards we have today I don't think this letter would have even happened. You see this is what you need to understand about this day and age of social media, and I tell this to the VP's of the brands that I work on... "YOUR BRAND IS NO LONGER JUST YOUR BRAND... IT'S THE PUBLIC'S BRAND". Social media allows people to now have almost just a big of a voice as your do, if not bigger when it comes to the company you work for,and the products you want us to buy.

So had I been sitting in that board room with you and all those stuffy old men who look at EA as just a paycheck, this would have been my suggestion....

I would not have shipped the game. Before you and your investors gasp, let me finish, because I'm trying to work this for the fans AND for your company's bottom line. I would have given the game away for free OR at cost. I would not have shipped it to stores, to keep YOUR cost down. I would have slapped a 9.99 or 19.99 price tag on it and made it DOWNLOAD ONLY. Heck if it only cost 4.99 per copy I would have set it at that price. I would have put out a different open letter that explained WHY Live 14 was an online only purchase. It would have read something like this...

[BOLD] Dear fans of our Live Franchise, and new fans we hope to win over. It's been a rough FEW years for the Live franchise and our team here. We all got into this game making business because we wanted to make awesome things, for awesome people (you guys) and be paid to do it. It in fact is truly a dream job. But because we realize gaming companies both large and small are nothing without it's fans we are going to do something different for the re-launch of our Live Franchise. Because we are now into a new generation of systems we feel like we are truly rebooting the franchise and we need you guys to be a major player in all of that so Live can be the best basketball game on the market every year for this next generation of awesome systems. With that said, we would like to announce that our first effort coming back will only be available via download. Some of you guys might not like this, but we want to keep costs down so we can pass the savings over to you. So this year, you can buy the game online for 14.99. We are doing this because we want to get our game in as many hands as possible so you guys can give us solid feedback to help us set the tone moving forward.

So you want to know how the feedback system is going to work? At the end of every game of Live 14, it will open up a survey for you to rate certain aspects of the game. Don't worry you can turn this feature off, but having this in our actual game this year will allow us to not only get feedback from people we know that are actually playing the game, but we can also see how long they have been playing it based off the feedback they are giving us.

I know some of you were expecting our first effort back into basketball to feel like we've been back for some time but we feel this year and TRULY with your help, we can all get there TOGETHER for our Live Franchise for many years to come.

Thank you for sticking with us.

Sincerely,

Sean O'Brien
EA Sports [/BOLD]

# 75 Moose Factory @ 11/23/13 01:54 PM

What cracks me up about this game, which I'm playing but having a tough time because of bugs and slow down, is that when I checked the credits (which are even glitchy too...) half the f'n team are QA testers. The amount of Quality Assurance people is crazy! Look at the credits and laugh at how many people worked on this game and this is the result? Scratching my head...

# 76 Fist Of Kings @ 11/23/13 02:25 PM

I guess an apology is nice, but I don't think those that bought the game feel any better about paying $65 for a mediocre(or worse) game. Maybe they should get a voucher instead.

# 77 wferguson05 @ 11/23/13 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boilerbuzz


	But that's all I see. 12 months. Focus on (fill in blank) instead of visuals. It's intrigues me that the main issue he mentions his that the game is hard to learn... Really? That's the first issue you mention? Just the whole mantra that the game is hard to learn is troubling. I've known the game of basketball for a long time. Why should this game be hard at all? With that said, it's fantastic that there is a public acknowledgement. Even though they've done this before (last year actually), still good to see.

I don't think he's saying its hard to learn I believe he's trying to put emphasis on the true basketball aspects of the game. The problem I see with this, while playing the demo which could be the reason, is that there is no player movement whatsoever unless you call one of those quick plays that don't do much. How can you enjoy what is a decently presented basketball sim if your players don't do the basic fundamental things and MOVE on offense? Again this is me just playing the demo but from what I've seen its in the full version as well.

# 78 wferguson05 @ 11/23/13 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush


	SMH. How about refund those beta testers who paid $60 and went out and bought the game. If the game wasn't worth $60, they shouldn't have released it just to release it. They don't deserve any type of props for this statement when they sat quiet for 3 full years and made no attempt to reach out to the gaming community for feedback. Unreal.

100% agreed. Cut the price in half, refund the ginny pigs, and release those updates asap. I see this as the only way I would even purchase the game seeing as how the demo has major flaws I feel are addressed in the full version.

# 79 wferguson05 @ 11/23/13 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackceasar


	Dear Sean O'Brien, Look man, I don't know what goes on behind those closed doors at EA sports. None of us here do. We don't know if you have a lack of the RIGHT talent there, a lack of resources, a lack of time, or a combination of all three. We don't know if the root of how sub-par Live 14 is maybe due to the fat cat VP's who have joined the ranks of EA over the years with their Harvard MBA's that just look at overhead, bottom lines, the stock ticker, and the quarterly investor dividend reports. We here don't know any of that. We here don't care either. Why don't we care? Most fan's don't care how you guys or any company goes about putting out a QUALITY title, as long as you do it. Heck most of us don't even care if the title gets delayed a bit to make it actually worth 60.00. So I've read your talking points letter about 30 times now, (no, really I have). You see I work in the marketing business. For MAJOR brands that I can't speak of here. I know about all the tricks, tactics, smoke screens, Jedi Mind tricks and what not marketers use on consumers not only to get them to buy a product, but also when things go south and damage control has to be done. 99% of the time it's disingenuous. I could see you sitting in a room with a bunch of fat cat board members who only view your company as place for them to get a nice salary and fat bonuses, not as a place to make a good product that people will spend their hard earned money on. I could see you having to run your letter by them first. I could see it up on a big PowerPoint being projected onto a screen there, and everyone is mulling it over, weighing in, telling you to change this sentence, or leave that our, or "make sure you mention this and that". You see, if this had been 2003 when social media really had not been born yet..no Facebook, no Twitter, no Reddit, and nowhere near the message boards we have today I don't think this letter would have even happened. You see this is what you need to understand about this day and age of social media, and I tell this to the VP's of the brands that I work on... "YOUR BRAND IS NO LONGER JUST YOUR BRAND... IT'S THE PUBLIC'S BRAND". Social media allows people to now have almost just a big of a voice as your do, if not bigger when it comes to the company you work for,and the products you want us to buy. So had I been sitting in that board room with you and all those stuffy old men who look at EA as just a paycheck, this would have been my suggestion.... I would not have shipped the game. Before you and your investors gasp, let me finish, because I'm trying to work this for the fans AND for your company's bottom line. I would have given the game away for free OR at cost. I would not have shipped it to stores, to keep YOUR cost down. I would have slapped a 9.99 or 19.99 price tag on it and made it DOWNLOAD ONLY. Heck if it only cost 4.99 per copy I would have set it at that price. I would have put out a different open letter that explained WHY Live 14 was an online only purchase. It would have read something like this... [BOLD] Dear fans of our Live Franchise, and new fans we hope to win over. It's been a rough FEW years for the Live franchise and our team here. We all got into this game making business because we wanted to make awesome things, for awesome people (you guys) and be paid to do it. It in fact is truly a dream job. But because we realize gaming companies both large and small are nothing without it's fans we are going to do something different for the re-launch of our Live Franchise. Because we are now into a new generation of systems we feel like we are truly rebooting the franchise and we need you guys to be a major player in all of that so Live can be the best basketball game on the market every year for this next generation of awesome systems. With that said, we would like to announce that our first effort coming back will only be available via download. Some of you guys might not like this, but we want to keep costs down so we can pass the savings over to you. So this year, you can buy the game online for 14.99. We are doing this because we want to get our game in as many hands as possible so you guys can give us solid feedback to help us set the tone moving forward. So you want to know how the feedback system is going to work? At the end of every game of Live 14, it will open up a survey for you to rate certain aspects of the game. Don't worry you can turn this feature off, but having this in our actual game this year will allow us to not only get feedback from people we know that are actually playing the game, but we can also see how long they have been playing it based off the feedback they are giving us. I know some of you were expecting our first effort back into basketball to feel like we've been back for some time but we feel this year and TRULY with your help, we can all get there TOGETHER for our Live Franchise for many years to come. Thank you for sticking with us. Sincerely, Sean O'Brien EA Sports [/BOLD]

Yeah, what he said!

# 80 da ThRONe @ 11/23/13 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukebeatsuncagain


	They are going to make improvements to animations and graphics within the next few weeks? Whoa, I didn't know that stuff was patch-able. That is pretty cool.

If it was that easy it wouldn't have shipped the way it is now.

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Sean O'Brien Issues Apology for NBA Live's Quality, Promises Improvements