Producer reveals upcoming basketball sim a next-gen exclusive; EA pledging "enormous financial commitment" to game.

NBA Live 14 will be exclusive to next-generation consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4, executive producer Sean O'Brien has revealed.

"There is an enormous financial commitment to the development of the product on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, including the size of the team and resources required to give us every opportunity to make a great basketball game that can compete with such a solid franchise like NBA 2K," O'Brien said in an open letter to fans.

Elsewhere in the note, O'Brien explained that his ambition for the NBA Live series is for the product to be an "authentic NBA simulation" that is "rooted in the sport and lifestyle of basketball."

To this end, O'Brien said the team at EA Sports has gone to great lengths to ensure dribbling and ball handling, as well as half-court and transition play, have been fine tuned.

He also revealed that NBA Live will make use of data from statistic-tracking serviceSynergy Sports Technologies thanks to a new partnership with the company. This alliance will allow EA Sports to update NBA Live 14 "within an hour" based on something that happens in the NBA.

"We're going to be making an enormous investment into this connected experience. There has been a lot of talk the last few years about how great NBA Live was going to be," O'Brien said. "The 'talking' is over. The vision is a simple one: To create a great basketball game exclusively for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4."

NBA Live 14 is due out later this year running on the EA Sports Ignite game engine. Previous installments NBA Elite 11 and NBA Live 13 were both canceled in the 11th hour.

Competitor NBA 2K14 launches this fall for current- and next-generation consoles. It is 2K Sports' "biggest endeavor yet" and will feature Miami Heat star LeBron James on its cover.

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