SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 31 ― Electronic Arts' Battlefield and NBA Live franchises are skipping their next iterations to better focus on adjusting to new console tech coming down the pipeline, the publisher says.

With competition from 2K Sports' NBA 2K franchise and its own internal production issues, EA's NBA Live series is no stranger to delays and cancellations.

There was no NBA Live for home consoles in 2016, 2012, 2011, or 2010, and back in July, EA had said that this year's NBA Live 20 wouldn't be landing, before it had even been officially announced.

So it's no surprise that EA has confirmed, in an open call to select investors, that NBA Live won't be back during the fiscal year from April 2020 to April 2021.

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More out of the ordinary is the absence of military action franchise Battlefield from the schedule.

New Battlefield games are usually released every two years, more recently alternating with EA's Star Wars licence, first through the resurrected Star Wars Battlefront series and this November via Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The Battlefield games, which compete directly with Call of Duty, are known for massed battles across land, sea, and air, as well as for destructible environments that are impacted by player activity.

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As with NBA Live, EA CEO Andrew Wilson cited opportunities to better adjust to the possibilities of new console hardware ― the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett due late in 2020.

New content will instead be released for 2018's Battlefield V between April 2020 and March 2021, with its successor earmarked for some point between April 2021 and March 2022, a period EA expects to bring bumper returns for the video game publisher. ― AFP-Relaxnews