tagged: Ed O'Bannon, Lawsuit, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, Video Games

NCAA Basketball video game in 2010? Not at EA Sports

Posted by Emmett Jones in Basketball

Sure, it would be easy to say that EA Sports NCAA Basketball franchise got “O’Bannon’ed”, but truth be told, there was a strong likelihood that we would have seen the death (read as: extended sabbatical probably meaning death) of the franchise anyway.  Apparently another NCAA game just didn’t fit into EA Sports plans financially, although the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit certainly didn’t help matters.

Earlier today Electronic Arts released their third quarter fiscal 2010 report which also included a list of titles planned for release in the coming fiscal year. All the usual suspects were listed with the exception of one. In addition to to that the rumored release date frame for a couple new franchises can be confirmed as well as the addition of a new fighting title in the works.

As I’ve been discussing the likelihood of for months it now appears a foregone conclusion that the NCAA Basketball series has been canned. It was not included on the fiscal 2011 list which had every other yearly title on it. The signs have been there for a while and included poor sales, complete lack of any post-release support, development team movement, and continued talk of trimming unprofitable titles. (via PastaPadre)

Well…at least Ed O’Bannon can sleep well at night knowing that his likeness won’t continue to be misused by the NCAA.

Although I think he may be aiming his sites a little higher.