NBA Jam revival in the works at Microsoft

One of the most iconic sports games of all-time is the classic NBA title, NBA Jam. The game embraced an arcade-y nature with over the top mechanics and intense commentary, Jam decided to abandon the simulator aspects of most sports games and just become the ridiculous thing it could possibly be.

The game has a huge following and while there haven’t been any attempts to make another NBA Jam since the days of the Xbox 360 and PS3 (outside of 2017’s NBA Playgrounds which followed a similar framework), ESPN reports that a revival is in the works at Microsoft in time for the game’s 25th anniversary.

“I can’t speak anything to the specifics, but I can tell you there is movement in the works to get it done for the 25th year,” said NBA Jam voice actor Tim Kitzrow. “So I’m hoping that we get a remake that does justice to the original.”

Kitzrow also noted that the game could release as soon as this year. NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell noted that there’s still a lot of potential for the series if EA chose to revisit the iconic series.

“I helped on the reboot of the franchise (back in 2010),” said Turmell, who left EA for Zynga in 2011. “They did a pretty good job. But there’s so much more that can be done. It’s really sort of an untapped category, to have that over-the-top NBA action with the official license. It’s a great brand.”

The rights for NBA Jam still lie at EA so maybe a deal is being worked out with Microsoft to get a revival made exclusively on Xbox but other than that, not much is known.

You can click here to go read ESPN’s in-depth piece about NBA Jam’s anniversary which includes interviews talking about moments from development with key people from the team, players featured in the game, and more.