Press Row Podcast - NHL 16 & Madden NFL 16

[Steve_OS]

This week’s episode is a two-parter. Up first, host Rich Grisham is joined by Press Row regulars Owen Good, Chris Sanner, T.J. Lauerman, and Samit Sarkar to discuss the NHL 16 feature set reveal. The team compares last season’s PR process to this year’s as well as the overall reaction by themselves and the fans. Up next, Madden 16’s Creative Director Kolbe Launchbaugh joins Rich to describe his approach to this fall’s Madden game as well as a preview of its theme.

Enjoy!

Joining us this week:

• T.J. Lauerman, ThatSportsGamer (@ThatSportsGamer)
• Samit Sarkar, Polygon (@samitsarkar)
• Owen Good, Polygon (@owengood)
• Chris Sanner, Operation Sports (@ChrisSnr)
• Kolbe Launchbaugh (@KolbeL)
• And your host, Richard Grisham, GamesRadar/OXM/@GAMER (@richgrisham)

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Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes

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[jpollack34]

You guys mentioned how the old way of doing things simply doesn't work anymore. Truer words have never been spoken. I call this phenomenon the obsession with short term profits. NHL/EA still practices this old antiquated business model. Simply doesn't work and does all kind of damage in the long term. Tricking fans into purchasing NHL15 with lingo and marketing talk turned into a PR disaster. Simply put, "advertising" doesn't work anymore, Games get sold nowadays by twitch streams, blogs, hardcore sites like operationsports, the Steam forums over at Valve, etc. You have to cater to the hardcore fans, they sell your games now. Taking away editing options or attempting to trick fans into purchasing a game... all of these moves are contrary to that principle.

The way forward is one of Openness and Transparency. You see it all around us. And building a brand by bringing your game to every conceivable platform. You can look at all the pie charts and graphs imaginable. But the formula is simple. Give the hardcore fans what they want and where they want it.

[jyoung]

RE: "Ultimate Team is now EA NHL's most-played mode."

As of NHL 13, EA was advertising Be A GM as their most-played mode. Be A GM's popularity was actually the impetus behind GM Connected's creation. EA wanted to make their Be A GM experience more innovative, so they expanded it in a new direction.

Talking about GM Connected on the official EA Sports blog, producer Andy Agostini wrote:

Quote: Originally Posted by EA

"When we started [working on NHL 13] we discussed what we wanted to add to the NHL franchise and thru viewing user feedback we knew that an Online Dynasty is one of the most requested features. We also knew that Be a GM is the NHL franchise’s number one most played mode. Essentially, what we’ve done is taken all the best things from Be a GM and combined them with Online Team Play the base for our popular EA Sports Hockey League, creating the largest online dynasty mode ever."

It wasn't until NHL 15's marketing campaign that EA started claiming Ultimate Team as their most-played mode. Pretty much every press release for that game included something along these lines:

Quote: Originally Posted by EA

"NHL 15 on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 brings with it the best game modes of a generation. Experience EA SPORTS Hockey League, Hockey Ultimate Team, the Winter Classic, Battle for the Cup, and much more. Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) is the most played mode in EA SPORTS NHL and it’s easy to see why. Nowhere else can you build and play with a team composed of all your favorite players to create an ultimate dream team. Battle your way through 10 divisions in Online Seasons and face-off against other fan created teams from around the hockey world."

[Clarke99]

Kolbe went to Madden? Never knew that. Baseball is Better