Review Fix Exclusive: Sean O’Brien Talks ‘NBA Live 15’

Review Fix chats with NBA Live series producer Sean O’Brien, who discusses the challenges in the development cycle following the negative reception of “NBA Live 14,” and what Electronic Arts is doing to ensure a better product this season.

From a new shooting engine to a complete overall if the game’s visuals and presentation, O’Brien believes this is the season where the Live series gets back on track.

Review Fix: Where were you guys emotionally after the release of Live 14? How did you feel with the game’s reception?

Sean O’Brien: It was a strange time.  We all worked so hard to get a next-gen game ready for the launch of the new consoles, but at the same time, we knew that it wasn’t as great as it could have been.  We just weren’t working from the same base of features and quality that the other sports games were working from which made everything more difficult.  But I think we learned a lot about each other.  The game was obviously not very well-received and it was definitely a gut check to see how the team would be able to respond.  The great news was they responded extremely well.  I’m really proud of how the team kept after it, providing post launch updates that showed our commitment to creating a great basketball game. Balancing that while building NBA LIVE 15 was not easy.  I was also really pleased how fans started to see what we were doing and supporting us along the way.

Review Fix: What are you doing to ensure a better game this year?

O’Brien: We have a really strong plan, so we just need to stick to the blueprint.  Building a console sports simulation game is daunting enough, but we’re also playing catch up with the other sports.  That means we’ve got to work that much harder…it’s not like the other games are standing still or NBA 2K is going to let us catch up.  We’ve got to fix the core of our game and continue to create innovative features and game modes that are built specifically with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 player in mind.  I’m unbelievably proud of how far we’ve come this year and I can’t wait for players to see and play it in October.

Review Fix: What was the most important thing you learned in the development process last year?

O’Brien: We’re doing two things with the NBA team and EA SPORTS.  We’re building a team and a strong working culture which will allow us to have a great product.  You can’t have one without the other.  I learned so many things last year and am continuing to learn so many things as we continue on this journey.  I learned that EA as a company is 100% behind this franchise and is giving us everything we need to be successful.  I also learned that there are some really talented people at our Tiburon studio that are committed to rebuilding NBA LIVE.  What we’re doing is not easy, but it has been extremely gratifying to see the progress we’re making and to know what’s coming is also incredibly exciting.

Review Fix: What has this year’s development cycle been like?

O’Brien: It’s been challenging right from the beginning balancing post-launch improvements for NBA LIVE 14 while at the same time making HUGE overall improvements with gameplay and graphics for this year’s game.  We’ve got a team that better understands each other and the codebase, which is allowing for faster iteration and qualitative improvements throughout the game.  So, seeing the progress we’ve been making is also extremely rewarding.  I’m so proud of this team and the people I’m working with.

Review Fix: You guys have said on Twitter that shooting will “feel” better. Can you elaborate?

O’Brien: Sure, mainly it’s the way we rebuilt the shooting system.  I’ve explained how we used to separate the gather (the footwork that leads to a shot, layup, dunk or any sort of jumping action) from the shot or the action requested by the player.  It felt and looked bad.  Momentum wasn’t preserved, and it led to some funky looking and feeling shots and dunks and layups.  This should be one of the best and most rewarding things you can do on offense.  So redoing that system, preserving the integrity of the motion capture data as well as momentum overall has led to an enormous improvement with shooting.  Combining that with signature animation and a really intuitive player indicator and shot feedback system that always gives you an understanding of when you’re in a position to take a good shot makes shooting feel great.

Review Fix: What do you think was the biggest problem with last year’s game and how have you fixed it in “NBA Live 15”?

O’Brien: There wasn’t just one problem.  I would say the biggest problems – plural – would have to be graphics and gameplay.  Graphically, our characters weren’t next-gen characters.  Player likeness wasn’t good enough. However, I’m happy to say that the game looks amazing right now.  I can’t believe how far we’ve come in 11 months.  People who’ve seen the game are really impressed at how great it looks and how far it’s come since last year.  It really is night and day.  With gameplay, that team has worked so hard to improve control and responsiveness; have intuitive controls, fix core systems like shooting, passing and catching, rebounding, dribbling, etc.  Also, there was a big focus on general animation fidelity.  We weren’t happy with how players moved, what they looked like doing it and how it felt to the player.  Gameplay is SO MUCH better.  It’s one of those things that you just have to play for yourself.  We also created an amazing onboarding during the initial download that features our cover athlete, Damian Lillard, and he walks you through some of the basic and advanced controls and features our game offers, which will allow players to have more success playing the game.

Review Fix: What improvements have you made visually in this year’s game?

O’Brien: Everything.  Seriously.  The biggest thing players will notice is character likeness.  The combination of a new lighting technique and a philosophy where we scan literally all of the assets in game provide an incredible amount of detail and accuracy for player heads, uniforms, accessories, shoes to everything in between.  The game looks really great.

Review Fix: <a href=”https://reviewfix.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/nba-live-15-ratings-wall.jpg”><img class=”alignleft  wp-image-18031″ style=”border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;” title=”impact” src=”https://reviewfix.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/nba-live-15-ratings-wall.jpg” alt=”” width=”282″ height=”159″ /></a> How do you want “NBA Live 15” to be remembered?

O’Brien: I want NBA LIVE 15 to be remembered as the game that made people believe that NBA LIVE is back on the right track and was the game that got players excited for what was to come.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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