NBA Live 18 is set to receive the WNBA roaster in its latest iteration, making it the first main line title to feature women in series history.
EA will be making history by including women in the upcoming and long running basketball videogame. A new mode in the upcoming NBA Live 18 title known as WNBA Play Now, will feature women from the Women’s National Basketball Association, playable for the first time in an NBA title.
EA is touting the mode as a fully realized addition, and not just a tacked on mode that checks another box. The models featured in the game will be rendered with the same level of quality and attention to detail that are given to the male players in previous titles.
For accuracy, EA Tiburon actually went out and got head scans of renowned female players within the WNBA, such as Maya Moore, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles, Alisha Gray, Chelsea Grey, and Alyssa Thomas. The living female legends were painstakingly recreated for the upcoming WNBA Play Now mode for NBA Live 18, which ultimately resulted in truly praise worthy character models for the upcoming sports title.
WNBA President Lisa Borders had this to say on the matter,
“We are delighted to collaborate and make history with EA as NBA LIVE 18 becomes the first video game to feature the WNBA’s full roster of teams and players, with EA’s expertise and ingenuity, the game will provide a terrific platform to showcase the players and the league, enabling fans to experience the WNBA in a new, exciting way.”
This isn’t the first time in EA Sports history that women have been brought over to the digital playing field; that honor goes to FIFA 16 and FIFA 17, in which women are promptly featured in the football title.
NBA Live 18 is due out in September for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Those wanting to try the game out can do so via a demo which will drop August 11th.