NBA Live of EA Sports is determined to become the premier basketball-based video game in the next three years.
The executive producer of NBA Live 15, Sean O'Brien, shared that he knows about the flaws that previous versions of the game had, which made its counterpart, 2K Sports' NBA 2K, more popular among gamers. He previously said about the mediocre and poor results of prior NBA Live games dating back since 2001, "It was a disaster, the game was terrible." and "I'm not selling you, or anyone, this game."
He said that NBA Live 15 would be better than its predecessors by "this much", with his hands held apart at about a one-foot distance.
In what appears to be an exclusive report by Polygon.com, O'Brien also revealed that there will be an NBA Live 16 and an NBA Live 17. He made the guarantee that the following annual releases of NBA Live will be better than the last. NBA Live 15 was developed in less than 12 months, so O'Brien remains optimistic that future releases will offer more, considering how developers will have more time to work on these.
O'Brien said, "Guaranteed. We've already started development on 16. We're staffing up. We're actually increasing investments on what 16 - and 17 - look like."
EA Sports guaranteed tens of millions of dollars for its connections with the NBA and ESPN but is yet to recoup the investment. Despite rumors that NBA Live 15 would be the final release by EA Sports before ceasing all efforts on future installments, O'Brien said, "We are a work in progress." He explained in the same Polygon article, "Part of me wishes people could hear the conversations I'm in. I wish I could snap my fingers and it would be two years from now. Right now, you're saying, 'Really, you guys are going to keep spending X dollars a year, to make X dollars a year? The math doesn't add up.'"
The video game is set to release on October 28 and will release in Europe on October 31. NBA Live 15 will be playable on PlayStation4 and Xbox One. EA Sports was supposed to release three weeks earlier but developers had to make more final adjustments and tweaks. O'Brien previously announced that players can expect better on-court visuals and improved graphics in the new game, as well as more intelligent AI. A patch will also be available on launch day.