The Rarest Xbox 360 Game Probably Isn't What You Expect
The Xbox 360 certainly had a great run.
The follow-up to the original Xbox captured the imaginations of gamers everywhere thanks to its strong lineup of first-party titles, well-implemented Xbox Live online service, and near-perfect controller. The Xbox 360 also came with a ton of amazing (and even underrated) third-party games that can still be enjoyed on the Xbox One and Xbox Series console family as well.
Scattered among the console's incredible library of games are those extra rare titles that may be out of your price range. There are limited editions that fetch a high price, and then there are the releases that are even hard to procure in their most basic form.
The rarest game on the Xbox 360 in this day and age may just shock you when you find out what genre it belongs to. That game is actually an NBA sports simulator that was eventually cancelled before it even got the chance to hit store shelves everywhere.
The rarest Xbox 360 game is actually a basketball game that was cancelled before release
NBA Elite 11 is a canceled EA Sports-developed basketball game that was originally set to launch on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
A demo for the game was the main reason behind its cancellation. A disappointingly high number of bugs/glitches, weird player animations, awkward controls, etc. were among the many complaints lobbed at the game's preview serving of gameplay. Footage of that demo can still be found on YouTube, with many taking aim at just how terrible its mechanics truly are.
About a week before NBA Elite 11 was set to launch, EA announced that it would be delayed indefinitely, and the game was eventually cancelled altogether. However, a few copies of NBA Elite 11 entered circulation for both consoles and are now considered collector's items.
Back in 2016, Ballislife.com reported that a PS3 copy of the game sold for $10,000 on eBay. NLSC noted that a combined lot of three Xbox 360 copies and two PS3 copies of NBA Elite 11 were listed on eBay for $30,000 back in 2017. Extra copies of the game are even harder to come across in the wild nowadays.