EA Sports NHL 12 Shatters Records in First Week

[Steve_OS]

Biggest First Week in Franchise History; Up 19 Percent Year Over Year

Franchise to Expand to Facebook Next Month with NHL Superstars

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – September 20, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the record-breaking launch of NHL® 12. Based on internal estimates, NHL® 12 had its biggest launch week in franchise history with more than $27 million generated at retail worldwide. First week unit sales of NHL® 12 were up 19 percent across Europe and North America. The game launched Sept. 9 in Europe and Sept. 13 in North America.

EA SPORTS™ also announced that the NHL franchise will be expanding with NHL® Superstars*, a free-to-play social game on Facebook®. NHL Superstars will bring an all-new NHL experience to millions of hockey fans by enabling players to build and manage their ultimate team of professional hockey players. With dynamic and accessible gameplay, fans can compete head-to-head in games against their Facebook friends from around the world. NHL Superstars will be available in early October.

“The fan response to NHL 12 has been incredible, and we’re delighted to expand the franchise to Facebook next month,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President, EA SPORTS. “NHL 12 is our most exciting hockey game ever, with more than 300 gameplay improvements and the ability to play with some of the NHL’s greatest legends.”

Among the additional notable accomplishments for NHL® 12 since its launch on September 13 in North America and September 9 in Europe:

• NHL® 12 sold through more than 451,000 copies at retail worldwide in its first week.
• Fans logged more than 6.9 million online connected game sessions last week (Sept. 13-19), which marks the most online games played in one week in franchise history and 17 percent more than last year’s opening week.
• Each day last week, an average of 86 total hours of online gameplay of NHL® 12 were played by fans – the equivalent of more than 70 full NHL seasons of action every single day.
• NHL 12 has earned 17 review scores of 90 or better around the world, including a perfect mark from Gaming Age who said “NHL fans need to buy NHL 12 if only to play the best representation of the sport ever created.” GameTrailers proclaimed that “NHL 12 refuses to say that amazing is good enough,” while Game Informer raves “NHL 12 is strongest where it counts – on the ice.”

NHL® 12 authentically captures hockey as it is played on the ice with more than 300 gameplay refinements highlighted by three key innovations: Anticipation AI, Dynamic Goalies and the Full Contact Physics Engine. Anticipation AI takes NHL 12 to the next level as players will now intuitively determine their next move by reading and anticipating the play. With the Full Contact Physics Engine, size and strength matter. NHL12 continues to innovate by giving you true to life collisions and control over the battles around the crease. With Dynamic Goalies, goalies are live for the first time ever. Players can make contact with goalies as they crash the crease and goalies will battle through traffic in front of the net as they fight through screens to make awe-inspiring saves.

New in NHL® 12 is the introduction of legends; nine former NHL greats – including Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, and Mario Lemieux – will be integrated into the game across virtually every mode, including the all-new Be A Legend Mode. Be the next great legend in the revamped Be A Pro mode. Play as your created pro and earn every shift on the ice with stellar play, big hits, and spectacular goals as you progress towards greatness.

[Gagnon39]

Good to hear. Definitely my favorite sports video game.

[tofubrain2]

totally agree. There are times I play this game and I tell myself 4 to 5 times " I love this effin game ". Good to see hockey represented so faithfully

[Weapon X]

Excellent. Let's hope this prompts EA to give the Vancouver team a bigger budget for NHL so they can get even more improvements into the subsequent games.

WX

[KingKongBundy]

For as much bashing as EA takes, they continue to put out fantastic hockey games year in and year out and NHL 12 definitely takes the cake! They deserve all of the accolades and the sales generated from this franchise.

It truly is a masterful sports game and a strong contender for sports GOTY. I'm so glad I purchased this game because I am having a blast playing it and it's really bringing me back to the sport of hockey (which I haven't closely followed since the mid-90s).

[DJ]

Good news. Hopefully EA continues to build on the gameplay improvements made in this game. I am really enjoying NHL 12. This time last year I was about ready to trade-in NHL 11.

[gopher_guy]

It's a helluva game!

[savoie2006]

Well it is the best EA Hockey game to date, even if it's improvements over NHL 11 seem minimal. Like others, I just hope this means bigger improvements for NHL 13.