 It's a very exciting time in the world of basketball video games, 2K22 can't be nearly as bad as 2K21. And although we knew EA was working on a secret basketball project, they're finally getting ready to talk about it, and there's been some new rumors and information leaked from EA themselves. So there's a lot to talk about on how this game cannot become an absolute failure like NBA Live has been for the past decade. Y'all new to the channel, be sure to subscribe, you don't have to, but I'll notify you next time I drop a video. It's a big red button, it's satisfying to click and it doesn't cost you anything. EA's got Juicy off the Ripper because IGN dropped this Juicy headline, NBA Live might be dormant, but EA is reportedly working on basketball games for next generation consoles. While we did already have some kind of idea that financially didn't make sense for them to abandon this market, especially considering ever since NBA Live 10 they've just been trying and trying and trying, obviously they see this upside, EA's general manager says in the article, we've got some next generation HD basketball projects. Man that's how we used to describe games in like 2005 when HD was new. Now we've been talking about and designing and working on, so they basically mean to say that they have something planned for next generation consoles. Now don't get too excited because NBA Live did take a 2-3 year break before they came out with NBA Live 14 on the PS4 and Xbox One. After taking a few years off, they came out with a new nice bougie Ignite engine that they developed themselves. Everybody was really excited for what EA was going to do with their sports titles. They also did make it clear that they have high and lofty aspirations in the sports gaming world in the article they followed up saying this. EA is exploring new business models and new geographies as it tries to double its sports audience from 230 million players to more than 500 million over the next five years. Lofty aspirations to double your player base? Just to have a player base growing is a challenge, let alone to just double it. And in pursuit of doing that, they've been eating up dev teams left and right, poaching developers. We know this to be the case, I've reported on stuff like this in the past. Here's a good example in this article they gave up. I didn't know this until I read this and it makes me a little sad. Because there's too much evidence of EA eating up a dev team and that dev team goes to shit because it has EA's footprint on it. But EA did eat up Codemasters and they announced Grid Legends, so if you care about the Grid series, I wouldn't hold your breath. And of course, there's no secret that in 2020, lead gameplay developer here, Scott O'Gallacher, left the NBA 2K series that he's been a part of for a very long time to join EA. EA has also made it clear that they have a college football game that's about to drop. So they're taking this sports gaming thing very seriously. So what's going on in the basketball space? There's actually plenty of examples in the gaming industry, but let's refer to one specific to the sports genre. Now, for those of you who've been playing soccer games for a while, or should I say football, yeah? For those of you who've been playing some football games over the... Let me chill out, guys. Let me calm down, guys. I want to offend the whole population of Europe. Before we get started, this video is brought to you by C-Geek. Hey, you're trying to go to any event. It could be a concert, it could be a comedy event, and it could be your favorite sports team playing your favorite sports game. 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Now, growing up, I played both. I'm not gonna lie to y'all. Sometimes my dad came home with PEZ on the PSP, and I just had to play it. I'm not gonna keep it a beat with you. But you really like how NBA 2K came out with my career in 2K10 and then dominated EA and NBA Live. FIFA came out with Ultimate Team and FIFA 09 and dominated PEZ and Konami. So it was the introduction of a new mode that was so popular and fun and new for people that just routed the competition. There's actually one very key difference though. In the NBA space, the NBA is pretty progressive when it comes to their licenses. They don't like giving out exclusive licenses. NBA playgrounds can have a license and NBA 2K can have a license and NBA Live Mobile can have a license. The NBA just wants to give as much as possible. They license it out. They don't do exclusive licenses for the most part. Not every sport is like that. We obviously know that EA with the NFL has an exclusive license to simulation gameplay. So if you wanna compete in the football market and have an NFL license and use NFL players and team names, unfortunately, that means that you can't have a simulation game. It has to be an arcade game like NFL Street was. So while FIFA had the licenses to all the big teams and names and the juggernauts in the world of soccer, Pes didn't and it struggled. While it did have some licenses, it didn't have nearly enough and it looked like the Walmart version of a more successful, bigger, more funer brother. That being said, when you look online, people do joke about how bad of a game Pes is, but the people who do play Pes actually talk about how the game play shines. FIFA 09 sold a couple million more copies than Pes 2009 according to BG charts, but the gap kept getting wider. In 2009, it was 5 million, 2010 was 8 million and 2011 was almost 10 million. By 2018, FIFA was selling over 12 million units while Pes was stumbling through with less than a million. Sounds familiar. But the reason I bring up this example is because Pes is actually doing something very creative and unique to win back fans. They've actually been targeting and getting licensed to popular individual teams. The new trend began in 2019 when Pes announced it had acquired the exclusive license to Juventes, one of Italy's and the world's most successful clubs. And I know about them because my little brother won't stop wearing those Ronaldo jerseys around the house. Within the world of football gaming, it was a seismic move. Juventes's Cristiano Ronaldo had been FIFA 19's cover star. By the time FIFA 20 came along, it couldn't use the name of the club. Nevermind put one of its players in their kit on the box. Anyway, all of that to say, I found this case study interesting because Pes realized something that they probably should have realized a decade ago. FIFA is a juggernaut in the space. They have a ton of funding in all these different game modes and a team much larger than your team. Why try and beat them at their own game? On top of Pes fighting for exclusive licenses to some of Italy's biggest teams, they've actually also made the game free to play. They even dropped this here, beautiful roadmap detailing the progress that they'd be making to the game free to play. All these teams that they now have the licenses to, although is nothing compared to what FIFA has, is something. How they're gonna go from cross-generation matches, PS4, PS5 to cross-platform matches with PlayStation, Steam, and Xbox to eventually by the end of the year, including mobile, so almost along the lines of what Fortnite's doing, no matter what platform you're playing on, you can cross-play with your friends on another platform. I made a video about cross-play in the past and the technology exists now. It costs developers money to implement it, which is why some have been hesitant. But when you're as desperate as Konami is with Pes, you pull out all the tricks. Dropping a game free to play means that even people with no interest will actually try it. A game that's kind of been shunned and made fun of for over a decade will be greeted because when a game is free, the expectations are much lower going into it. You might not be so angry when there's a bug. You know the game is free to play and you know it's in beta. EA, Pes right now is giving you a beautiful roadmap on how to dominate a dominant opponent. You have to do things outside the box. You have to give yourself a chance to shine and you actually have to back it up. And so over the course of the year, we're gonna see if they actually follow through on this roadmap. Lord knows we've seen plenty of roadmaps from developers that were not followed through. But there's actually a basketball market that y'all could win in. So EA, I believe you should be taking a lesson from what Konami is doing here with Pes. Instead of trying to fight the juggernaut of 2K at their own game, you're not gonna win it. You're not beating 2K in a simulation basketball experience at least in the next five to six years. And if history is any indication, you need to come out with a new exciting mode that people can get behind, that people can get excited about, that you can double triple down on over the years. It's not enough to just play catch up. So on top of trying to get the gameplay like how 2K has the gameplay, on top of trying to get the graphics and the my team and then the park game mode, instead of playing catching what 2K has, just do something unique that 2K doesn't have that 2K players can gravitate towards. Drop your game free to play. Are you out of your, yo bro, every 2K player will play your game if it's free to play. I'm telling you, rebrand. Rappers do it all the time, guys. Every five to six years, bro, rappers call themselves a different name, bro. Jay-Z has been called 17. If Pete Diddy has a new name every three years, guys, but there's a reason why they do that. They wanna keep things fresh and new and interesting. All I have to say that there's plenty of competition in the sports gaming world. And unlike other genres in gaming where developers are more incentivized to take risks and do new things, in the sports world, developers just do the same things over and over and over again. So when something new like My Career in 2K10 or Ultimate Team in FIFA 09 pops up and you do it well, people get hooked. They love the experience. It's a new mode for them to dive into. The reality is is maybe NBA Live can come out with the Ultimate Team as good as 2K's My Team, maybe. They're probably never gonna come out with a mode as big or as fun as the city or the park is in 2K. When you match up 2K and NBA Live one-on-one, the only things that NBA Live wins on is the user interface and the soundtrack. So go in another direction. That means going arcade with NBA Street, do that. Drop the game free to play, promise expansions and packs. You'll find ways to monetize it through microtransactions. You're EA, you always do. And 100%, you have to be the first one to come out with crossplay. Do not let 2K beat you to crossplay. If you do those things, I guarantee you, you will finally have a player base. I know it's been a long time since EA has had a player base on a basketball game, but it will happen. Let me know how y'all feel about the news in the comments down below. And if y'all enjoy it, drop a like. Subscribe to the channel. Well, you don't have to, but you can. I clicked the big red button. You'll be notified the next time I drop a video. And I'll catch you guys in the next one. I'm out. Peace.