NBA Live 19 is set to drop this fall with another chance at improving their franchise and to give NBA 2K19 some competition. Take a look as NBALIVEGIRL, the first woman of the EA Game Changers for NBA Live, and I talk on the inclusion of woman in the gaming industry, making your own opportunities, and adding woman in NBA Live defined the franchise against competition.
This interview was conducted during EA Play, EA’s own showcase in Hollywood, CA during the week of E3 2018. So the topic that NBALIVEGIRL and I discussed on adding woman was way before the announcement at the end of July , which officially showcased adding a female create – a – player. During the interview NBALIVEGIRL mentioned how adding WNBA was big gamechanger and was important to her as a woman that not only love the game of basketball, but also plays the sport as well.
Adding woman athletes to EA Sports is no stranger the heavyweight publisher/developers, as FIFA 16 added for the first time in history the Women’s National teams and also graced the cover as well. EA Sports is definitely making huge strides at respecting women athletes in the gaming industry leading by example and definitely showing what the competition is not doing.
During my time at the first ever NBA 2K League Draft I and many asked why were there not any women drafted in the inaugural NBA 2K League ? The NBA commissioner also made that observation as well and stated
“I’ll tell you one thing just to put it on the table that’s been a disappointment for all of us so far is that there are no women who are in the initial draft pool, and just to make it clear, whittling down from the 72,000, it’s by avatars in essence, it’s blind,” Silver explained. “I’m not concerned that there was something wrong with the process necessarily…This is a much larger issue in the gaming community.”
The NBA 2k League has gotten the message of the great number of women that play NBA 2K and have made efforts of showcasing four female NBA 2K players : Chiquitae126, ALittleLady87, PrettyLovesPink, and Mz_LJ.
The next step for NBA 2K is to take notes from NBA Live with adding women and the WNBA in their game since there is a huge demographic of women that play NBA 2k. Popular and influential woman NBA 2K streamers like PrettylovesPink who was featured in the NBA 2k Leage showcase is the creator BallLikeHer , a community created for women that play NBA 2k to team up, go head to head , etc .
Adding the WNBA and woman athlete customization to the park is a progressive move on the right direction for women’s representation in the sports games that we love, but in the same breathe there is more to be done. I have yet to really see female influences and streamers in either community supported and given opportunities as much compared to the men in the basketball gaming community. Let’s strive for women added in the NBA 2K League and more women showcased on NBA Live Challenges, Pro Am, and NBA Live Twitch streams.