NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

[jyoung]

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Since then EA has shown where their focus seems to lie. It's gradually shifted from the game as a whole, to almost exclusively online content and HUT. Roster updates this year seem to be even slower than usual, which is saying a lot because they were pretty sparse and lacking in accuracy to begin with, but despite that, tons of HUT posts about potential cards to win, and historic players to play with. Things that aren't bad on their own, but when they appear to be at the expense of promised fixes, and accurate rosters featuring current players, it leaves a really sour taste in your mouth.

The lack of roster updates is pretty disgraceful this year when you consider how few modes are in the game. By my count, only five NHL players have had their ratings touched since the game released, and that meager update only bumped up some rookies from AHL-level ratings to bottom-of-the-barrel NHL-level ratings. Even the guys like Gaudreau and Forsberg who did get a slight ratings bump are still rated way too low based on their talent and current performance.

HUT is the only mode that EA has maintained this year with a steady stream of updates.

Online Team Play still has no lobbies or friend invites, plus it has crazy input lag during gameplay on PS4 that makes is practically unplayable.

Be A Pro is still missing the "sim to next shift" option, which makes that mode basically unplayable.

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I wouldn't be shocked if pretty soon the game was renamed, NHL HUT 20**

This is the game everyone thought we would get this year:



This is the game that we actually got this year:

[Cletus]

I saw someone mention NBA Live and it's downfall. I wonder if maybe there's one single event that might tie into both series going downhill? I don't think it's a coincidence. EA is going to continue to disappoint in everything until they get some better leadership. It's just sad that there are less sports games than ever before.

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by brandon27

See, to me... the question shoudln't be "At what point does EA say it is not profitable to make this game anymore?" The question needs to be "At what point does EA realize their customers aren't buying the game, because it's not up to par with expectations?" The demand for the product is still there, just not in it's current state. Improve the product, sales will follow. That seems to be their problem over there though. They're looking at it as... "Well its bleeding sales, lets cut back the resources we're putting into it in order to maximize what little profit is left", rather than saying, "We're bleeding sales, how do we get them back and make this product better?" Now maybe they have information that says the demand isn't there for a hockey game whether its good, or bad to warrant spending the necessary resources. If that's the case, then there's not much you can do. As big as hockey is in some of the more populated area's of the world though, I personally find that hard to believe. I think the demand is still there, but it's just not there for a product that's slipping in quality.

This to a T. All that needs to be looked at is the past sales numbers. This game was so much fun to play in all game modes back in NHL 09-11. What a coincidence to, HUT didn't even exist at that time and the sales numbers were the best they've ever been. Then the luster of all those game modes and gameplay (controls, graphics, etc) started to go away because it wasn't improved in areas that needed improving. The game was fun, but it still had a ton of issues that needed to be addressed. That fun and solid gameplay (for that time) was good enough to make us not think about the glaring problems. It was honestly like the dev team sat and said, well we have our sales numbers so now we can stop improving the big issues and people will keep buying it. It's killed sales of the actual game. I still think about how good this game really could have been had they actually fixed the really bad areas of this game, when the game was actually good.

At the end of the day though, this game had great sales numbers when HUT didn't even exist. All this game needs is great offline gameplay, BeAGM, Playoff Mode, a continuously improved EASHL, regular online and finally a great roster/player editor and this game would be a hit. People don't need HUT to enjoy this game if the other parts are solid. They can go ahead and leave it in but don't waste time every year trying to enhance it. I'm not sure how much they make off HUT purchases, but I would think they could make as much or more money selling more copies then from the extra sales they receive from HUT. Obviously I don't have the numbers on what people actually spend for HUT, but I would think most people don't spend more than $60, which is the price of a game. I guess I really don't know though since I have no interest in the mode. I think it's ridiculous anyway because when I've tried playing the mode I didn't need "Gold Premium" or whatever vintage Oilers Gretzky to win games. This isn't bragging but more of a shot at NHL, but I could win with junior and NHL scrubs against teams with top players because every player has the same skills except for speed. When you don't have speed you make due by out-thinking the other player.

[jyoung]

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I'm not sure how much they make off HUT purchases, but I would think they could make as much or more money selling more copies then from the extra sales they receive from HUT. Obviously I don't have the numbers on what people actually spend for HUT, but I would think most people don't spend more than $60, which is the price of a game

New copies of NHL 15 have been priced at $30-$35 since Black Friday.

Buying one of the Ultimate Team promo packs that they put up two to three times per week will typically cost $20-$30.

So it's easy to see why HUT is the only mode that EA has put continued support into this year.

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by jyoung

New copies of NHL 15 have been priced at $30-$35 since Black Friday. Buying one of the Ultimate Team promo packs that they put up two to three times per week will typically cost $20-$30. So it's easy to see why HUT is the only mode that EA has put continued support into this year.

I know about how the price of the game drops drastically during that time. That happens with every game though as long as it has been out for a couple of months. I was more intending about release price. I just think release prices would be much higher if people knew the game was going to be good.

That's crazy on the HUT cards though. I cannot even imagine paying that amount of money for a pack of cards just to try and have a good record at a video game. To each his own though. We all have stuff we buy that is useless to another person. I could justify most things but paying for HUT is one thing I don't think I could. I'd almost feel like I was cheating at the game.

[capnbuh]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

This to a T. All that needs to be looked at is the past sales numbers. This game was so much fun to play in all game modes back in NHL 09-11. What a coincidence to, HUT didn't even exist at that time and the sales numbers were the best they've ever been. Then the luster of all those game modes and gameplay (controls, graphics, etc) started to go away because it wasn't improved in areas that needed improving. The game was fun, but it still had a ton of issues that needed to be addressed. That fun and solid gameplay (for that time) was good enough to make us not think about the glaring problems. It was honestly like the dev team sat and said, well we have our sales numbers so now we can stop improving the big issues and people will keep buying it. It's killed sales of the actual game. I still think about how good this game really could have been had they actually fixed the really bad areas of this game, when the game was actually good. At the end of the day though, this game had great sales numbers when HUT didn't even exist. All this game needs is great offline gameplay, BeAGM, Playoff Mode, a continuously improved EASHL, regular online and finally a great roster/player editor and this game would be a hit. People don't need HUT to enjoy this game if the other parts are solid. They can go ahead and leave it in but don't waste time every year trying to enhance it. I'm not sure how much they make off HUT purchases, but I would think they could make as much or more money selling more copies then from the extra sales they receive from HUT. Obviously I don't have the numbers on what people actually spend for HUT, but I would think most people don't spend more than $60, which is the price of a game. I guess I really don't know though since I have no interest in the mode. I think it's ridiculous anyway because when I've tried playing the mode I didn't need "Gold Premium" or whatever vintage Oilers Gretzky to win games. This isn't bragging but more of a shot at NHL, but I could win with junior and NHL scrubs against teams with top players because every player has the same skills except for speed. When you don't have speed you make due by out-thinking the other player.

Keep in mind that a much higher % of the money from HUT microtransactions go directly to EA.

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by capnlarge

If only 2k had anticipated EA dropping a stinker. Would've been a good year for 2k hockey

Who knows. They might quietly be weighing their options. Maybe they'll throw a small team together to work on a proof-of-concept type thing, show they can develop an engine that can accurately represent hockey, then see how things look to be shaping up with EA's release.

EA is currently the king of the sports-game mountain in almost every genre, but in a lot, that balance is pretty weak. A solid NHL game that allows players to customize the game, from rosters, player looks, and gameplay being realistic or more arcade and fun could easily steal away a ton of customers. I would gladly jump ship on EA tomorrow if 2K could release something that even looked like it was almost as good as NHL14, just to show EA that they need to pay better attention to their fan base, and not just their bank account.

[Culture Rot]

So upsetting. Another once franchise in ruins. No competition either. Sounds like a familiar scenario. Please god dont let Fifa be next.