IT MIGHT be a far-off memory, but almost every basketball fan with a mint new console during the early to mid-2000s just had to have NBA Live on their collection.
Well, which hoop devotee wouldn’t?
The prospect of controlling your idols on the court and doing their moves as if your own is just titillating. NBA Live paved the way for ordinary people to do extraordinary things on the console.
But there lies the issue, consoles aren’t that booming anymore especially in the Philippine market. The reason? The advent of mobile technology with applications on phones is becoming the next big thing in gaming.
So, NBA Live, the sports game that captivated every budding gamer and cage nut is now available in the Philippines via the App Store and Google Play, extending the game of basketball to Filipino fans all year long, and without the limits of a console.
EA Sports, one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, unveiled the NBA Live Mobile during its press launch at the NBA Store in Glorietta 3, letting Pinoy gamers experience the world’s premier basketball league on the tip of their fingers.
“It’s just a different experience,” said NBA Live Mobile Producer Justin Sheffield.
“The game is just really different, the medium is really different, I can play it wherever I want. We made the game easy to pick up and play,” added the video game industry veteran.
The free-to-download game puts the franchise in the hands of the fans with live service content updates year-round, while featuring intuitive onscreen controls, creating an entertaining, engaging and high-quality mobile basketball experience.
“When the season goes along, you’ll gonna see new rosters, new perks, new jerseys. We just wanna have new things,” Sheffield said.
Meanwhile, asked whether the game would be widely accepted in the country, NBA Philippines Managing Director Carlo Singson sees the game’s rise to start here.
“It already has (attracted a huge following), even before the game was launched, there’s a lot of Filipinos playing the franchise. But I think if you look at the combination of NBA fans here in the Philippines, how many gamers we have, mobile users, all those factors coming together, that will guarantee the success of this game,” Singson said.
And the numbers back that claim.
“Outside of the US, the Philippines is number three in installs, number one in daily active users and number one in hours played per day,” added Sheffield, who has also worked on titles such as FIFA and FIFA Ultimate Team.
Sheffield also bares plans to incorporate tournaments akin to the FIFA interactive World Cup, but there is no specific time frame for that to happen and the team will continue to work on in-game features of the app before venturing to bigger improvements.
“We’re looking to integrate the game to some of our on-ground events here. We have some very interesting plans to deliver content and promote the game,” said Singson. “The success of the game is very important to us and we’re here to do whatever we can to make sure that happens.”
