News and Industry Happenings

NBA Playgrounds Hits 500K Sales, Adds New Free Content

Independent developer Saber Interactive is proud to announce its arcade-style basketball game, NBA Playgrounds, has sold over 500,000 units across the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC (Steam) since launching in May. This is the first game Saber has self-financed and self-published for modern platforms.

Saber has released multiple free updates for NBA Playgrounds already, with more expected by the end of summer. Another 33 new players will be added, including current stars such as J.R. Smith and Chris Paul, dominators from recent eras like Baron Davis and Tim Duncan, old-school legends Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, and even some modern-day sports gaming YouTubers like Agent 00 and Shake4ndBake. Packs will be better balanced to reduce the number of duplicates players open. Saber will also introduce a three-point contest mode with online play, a new rebounding system and fully functional friend invites to matches. These updates will arrive on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC first, followed by Nintendo Switch at a later date.

“NBA Playgrounds has been a labor of love for us at Saber, so it’s hugely gratifying to see the game strike a chord. Its success has paved the way for us to consider creating other arcade-style sports titles,” said Saber’s CEO, Matt Karch. “We’ve worked tirelessly since release to refine the game and deliver the free content we promised, and we’re going to keep supporting it. I want to thank the community for their ongoing feedback, specifically players on Switch, who had to wait so long for the full experience they deserve.”

NBA Playgrounds is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB and PEGI 3+. For more information, visit www.nbaplaygrounds.game

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John Breeden II

As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time. His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News. As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.