EA Tiburon Working On New Basketball Sim For Fall 2012

EA Sports has announced it will follow up the troubled production and cancellation of NBA Elite 2011 with a new basketball simulation that will hit stores in Fall 2012. The title, which is being developed by EA's Orlando-based Tiburon Studio, will come roughly three years after EA's last realistic basketball title, 2009's NBA Live 2010. "We have top talent on the game, and we're giving the new development team time to deliver a superior experience," EA Sports president Peter Moore said in a statement. "We're making great strides and looking forward to launching a new game next year." Last year's planned release of NBA Elite 2011 was first delayed and then cancelled after widespread concern over a bug-riddled demo for the title. EA Sports saw a significant reorganization in the wake of that cancellation, eliminating general manager positions at EA Tiburon and EA Canada. EA president John Riccitiello later said the time-sensitive nature of the NBA season helped turn the delay into a cancellation, and that the title was canned partly to preserve EA Sports' reputation. Essentially unopposed in the basketball sim market, Take-Two's NBA2K11 went on to become the 10th best-selling title of 2010, according to NPD, selling nearly 4 million copies through early 2011. EA also announced NBA Jam: On Fire Edition a downloadable follow-up to last year's NBA Jam revival that's due this fall.