NBA Elite

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NBA Elite 11 Logo

NBA Elite (also known as Elite and stylised as NBA ELITE) was intended to be a re-branding and continuation of the NBA Live series of basketball video games produced by EA Sports. NBA Elite 11 was the first game produced under the brand but was postponed and then later completely cancelled following a poor reception to its demo. Following NBA Elite 11's cancellation, development of the series has moved from EA Canada to EA Tiburon. On February 23rd 2012, EA Sports confirmed that they will be returning to the NBA Live branding for future releases.

Games in the series

NBA Elite 11 would have been the first game released under the new brand name but was officially cancelled on November 2nd 2010, following a poor reception to its demo and surprising postponement just a week before the scheduled release date. EA Sports subsequently resurrected the NBA Live brand.

For more, see NBA Live.

Name change

"What is Elite?" promotional image

News of the re-branding of the NBA Live franchise was broken in the July 2010 issue of the Official Xbox Live Magazine. EA Sports confirmed the re-branding on June 2nd 2010, after previously teasing the name change with promotional images on their official pages with mention of the word "Elite". Following the cancellation of NBA Elite 11, EA Sports elected to wait until the 2012/2013 season to relaunch the series, eventually announcing a return to the NBA Live branding with NBA Live 13. Following NBA Live 13's cancellation, the series finally returned with NBA Live 14. Development of the series has moved from EA Canada to EA Tiburon, the studio that produces Madden.

Legacy

The NBA Elite brand was permanently sullied by the extremely negative reaction to the NBA Elite 11 demo, which included several scathing YouTube videos highlighting problems such as the infamous "Jesus Bynum" glitch. Following the poor reception of the demo and subsequent postponement and eventual cancellation of the game, the derogatory nickname of "NBA Delete 11" became popular among basketball video game fans. The lingering negativity associated with the brand ultimately led to the series returning to the NBA Live moniker.

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