NBA Live 13 canceled six days before planned release

EA Sports waited until the last minute to cancel NBA Live 13 last week, according to a tweet from Microsoft director of Xbox Live programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb. He said NBA Live was supposed to launch today on Xbox Live Arcade, meaning EA Sports' official cancellation of the project came just six days before its targeted launch.

Major Nelson's tweet also confirmed the rumor from August that NBA Live 13 was planned as a downloadable title as opposed to a full retail offering. A report out of the GameStop manager's conference in Texas suggested EA was pursuing a $20 digital release for the game, despite being aware of unspecified risks.

NBA Live 13 is not the first professional basketball simulator that EA has canceled in the 11th hour. The company had planned to ship NBA Elite 11 in October 2010, but after delaying the game in September of that year, the publisher officially canned the game in early November 2010.