The Medium is the Message: EASHL, Transparency, and the Core Gamer

[Hollywood88]

The other thing is who ever said that a game needs to come out right before the season? If the nhl team is understaffed put the game out later rather the put out a "this is the best we could do in our development window." I was happy hb studios delayed "the golf club" as I knew this meant when the game came out it as ready. But also that they were building a game that would hold up over time and continue to be supported. I give them credit as I'm sure they are not pleased with releasing within a week of madden but I'm sure they did it because they believe in their creation.

Too many examples of ea putting out something rushed and major flaws showed up and ruined a portion of time that the consumer had with the game. Here are a few.

1.madden 2005- fatigue glitch was patched by turning off all fatigue for all players. Made teams with dominant Rbs impossible to beat. Because of the 2k5 at 19.99 was superior.
2. NHL 09- 99 glitch that allows people in eashl to make their guy a 99 overall. Ruined eashl for over half a year.
3.tiger woods 14- could not do a search for
Online games as it would always default
To TPC sawgrass. The game froze terribly. They patched the game with a bad patch that made your online player play without a visible putter and all of your boosted clubs would go back to the default at random times. They said they were looking to patch the game again. They were silent for 6 months before everyone have up on it.

And as far as NHL is concerned, why not have the guts to
Put the game out at a reduced price as you are
Not getting the full game. Naw that would make
Too much sense and hurt that ever important "bottom line." Please don't give into ea sports and pay full price for half the game. At least wait until it's half the price. And then after the first reviews, we may
Find that it may not even be worth half of the price. Put your money towards HB studios because they are a studio doing it right.

[Gotmilkman24]

does anyone know how true this live the life online mode is?

[Retropyro]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

In another wonderful move by EA it is looking like those of us who paid for Early Access will be limited to just six hours with the full game prior to the release date.

You didn't pay for "Early Access", the program is called "EA Access", which was stated to have "limited time trials 5 days before release". Not "here's the full retail copy 5 days early to play until your heart's content".

[Shakes]

I never understood the fascination with any of the Ultimate Teams myself whether it be Madden, NHL, etc. I always thought they would make some type of money with the EASHL to be honest in some capacity.

[Nabz]

I said this in a nhl arena pic a week ago that was posted being suspicious why not much news was released on NHL 15 in terms of gameplay and game modes and I was predicting the game probably has flaws that they dont want us to know. I know people have uploaded gamescon video of gameplay and tbh it doesnt look that good. Everytime EA starts being quiet about a game there is always something they are hiding that they dont want us to know cause it'll hurt there sales. Look at NBA Live they would hide alot then finally admit to their faults.

[Jet Sufferer]

"The stereotype of a company that's ardently pro-business marches on."


If you changed the "pro-business" part to "anti-consumer" I would agree.

Hence the problem many have with EA. I doubt many business owners would see the things EA does that make their consumers angry as "pro-business".

I doubt the Wharton School of Business would advise future business leaders to be as vague as possible about your product, silent on key consumer concerns, etc.

In fact, EA seems to be especially tone deaf in their business practices.

Why not get out in front and explain why EASHL isn't in if it isn't? Be upfront and transparent with your consumer and try and gain their loyalty. By not addressing the issue you leave open the speculation that you're looking for the "short buck". Allowing people who don't follow closely to go and purchase NHL 15, ripping open the shrink wrap, trying to play EASHL and....OOPS!.

Even if they're not callously doing that, remaining silent on the issue leaves people to assume that in fact, that's exactly what you're doing. Looking for the short buck with no regard to future sales and consumer loyalty is not a "pro-business" stance, unless we're talking about a "Mr. Burns" type from The Simpsons.

Look at EA Access. Many, based on their experience with Season Ticket expected far more than 6 hours with Madden 15. Let's not pretend for one second that when they rolled out this product that they didn't know that Madden 15 would be limited to 6 hours. Let's also not pretend that they didn't know that this would be a question.

Why not divulge this information before you start taking people's money?? Well the cynic would say, they know what people expect based on Season Ticket, so let's take their money NOW and when they get upset we can say "hey look at the fine print". Technically EA would be correct, but are you engendering brand loyalty with this approach or creating more distrust with your consumer? Hardly a "pro-business" model to anyone but the most hardened cynic.

Their track record doesn't help them any in this regard. From procuring exclusive licences for sports and leagues and in many peoples opinion releasing a minimally upgraded product for years on end with little changes to AI routines in their sports games, many feel they're playing essentially the same game for YEARS.

Now add in the cynical mobile game model or microtransactions and looking for "whales", people who will spend hundreds, some THOUSANDS (admitted to here and other sites) on silliness (MY OPINION) like Ultimate Team and trading card games and it only magnifies consumer doubts.

Some see these games moving to a model of having a barely functional, generic single player game, with the barest of upgrades each year, shining up the graphics (which equates to "realism" to many) and putting their effort into making their games cash cows and hunting for whales.

Scoring the same trick goals against the computer for 7 years, no problem, slants still money for 10 years? So what! How about those visors though, check out the reflections! Ignore the underlying product and check out all the OTHER ways we have now to make the game fun and competitive! That 60 dollar game has a new "casino" quality to it, you can spend thousands and be ranked in the top 10!

Kid got into mom's wallet and entered in credit card info? Spent 800 on Ultimate Team and now you can't pay your mortgage? Talk to our lawyers.

Ultimately (lol) I think there will be a challenge to the casino quality of some of these games, there is a part of it that has a gambling element to it, we certainly know that some personality types will become addicted. I think in the near future you might need to be 18 or 21 to play some of these Ultimate Team modes.

I'm not sure I like where gaming is headed, and EA is not the only one taking us down this road.

[statum71]

I'm just hoping for season mode (multiplayer).

Otherwise, no use in me buying it.

[ericromain]

EA NHL had a lot more transparency a few year ago (NHL09-NHL10 era) When David Littman would give us quick clips breaking down subtle nuances of changes. There were live chats, developer blogs, redshirt used to come on the forums, a ton of community outreach talking about how much they are listening to the hardcore guys, and Littman (being an ex NHLer himself) really made me believe that the game was being made by hockey fans for hockey fans. I've never really had that vibe from rammer.
I don't think they've stopped listening, but they've stopped reaching out.
NHL 14 kinda gave us all the features all at once in May and we've just been riding the sizzle trailer train all summer.
Perhaps we're seeing an oddball year for the launch of next gen, where so much had to be rebuilt that they are afraid to call out what is getting squeezed in and what has to be cut.

It is a shame that they are keeping us in the dark this year over some tough cuts.