Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are the NHL 16 Cover Athletes

[King_B_Mack]

Chelsea Dagger, Toews and Kane on the cover, Stanley Cup champions.....the United Center HAS to make it back in the game this year right? I think the last time it was actually in the game was the last time Toews was on the cover for '11

Wouldn't be a good look to have that horrid Hawks home ice in the game with all this stuff EA.

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

I'm not sure you really understand how marketing works. If the cover is what's going to sell the game to some, it's going to sell a lot more to Blackhawks fans who would have never bought it before rather than Islanders fans who might have been on the fence.

No doubt on this man. 2 million people turned out for the Blackhawks parade and rally last week. Blackhawks stuff is flying off the shelves in every store in the city. Are 2 million of those fans going to buy NHL 16 now? Probably not all of them, Chicago is on fire for Hawks stuff right now though. It wouldn't surprise me to see a bump in units sold for this series as the odds of people browsing the game stores or their PSNs and Lives for games that have an interest old or new (because of the Hawks) in hockey might give this series a spin. My initial interest in hockey came from playing NHL '94 back in the day.

[no1xdraftpck]

Any team that has won the cup 3 out of 6 years is going to catch EA's attention. This new "teamwork is everything" slogan goes perfectly with the success Toews and Kane have experienced with each other and the Blackhawks as a whole. It is a bit strange that they would select repeat cover athletes, but I honestly believe they care more about new users than they do about their experienced core players.

Their target audience probably has no idea A) how to pronounce Toews' name correctly, B) Kane and Toews have previously been on the cover before and C) who won the cup in 2013.

[sir psycho]

It's surprising...it's weird...but I really couldn't care less. I never understood why people get so upset/excited over who's on the cover. Personally, I would have put Tavares on the cover if it was my call, but whatever.

[Kolbe31]

This was clearly their plan from the beginning, with no cover vote. Promoting team play, what greater team accomplishment than to win the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately for EA, planning to use the Stanley Cup champs as the cover didn't work out too great, as everyone has mentioned, Toews and Kane were on recent covers. I'd suspect EA was probably pulling for any of the other 3 teams in the final four to avoid this repetition.

I don't mind the idea, kinda like it actually. What I don't like, is the picture they chose. Just looks weird. They probably could've avoided a lot of criticism if they picked different Blackhawk players as well.

At the end of the day, it's just a picture. I see it once when I buy the game, and then basically never again.

[emericaridr11]

Quote: Originally Posted by 13SM13

So 3 of the last 6 years we have either Kane, Toews or now BOTH... Not a fan of the repetition

and thats how I feel about the Stanley Cup as well.... so LAME

[CMH]

I hope that picture is the cover exactly just for the resulting thread and comments that will follow.

You guys make me laugh.

[Ruffy]

They released the guys who are going to be on the cover of the game....not the actual cover.......this "community" they were going to get Kane and Toews to pose for photos during the off-days of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The cover shouldn't matter to anyone in this "community" if they truly want a good hockey game the focus should be the game play and modes....not what marketing decided would get them more publicity and fan recognition for the casual person to buy the game.

Considering every year someone out here or in the EA forums offers up free fan made covers you can have who or what you want on them.

It's hilarious when haters hate for no reason.

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kolbe31

This was clearly their plan from the beginning, with no cover vote. Promoting team play, what greater team accomplishment than to win the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately for EA, planning to use the Stanley Cup champs as the cover didn't work out too great, as everyone has mentioned, Toews and Kane were on recent covers. I'd suspect EA was probably pulling for any of the other 3 teams in the final four to avoid this repetition. I don't mind the idea, kinda like it actually. What I don't like, is the picture they chose. Just looks weird. They probably could've avoided a lot of criticism if they picked different Blackhawk players as well. At the end of the day, it's just a picture. I see it once when I buy the game, and then basically never again.

I don't really understand how their cover decision "hasn't worked out too great" It's not like the cover is going to have a negative effect on sales. Honestly, if anyone cites the cover as their reason for not buying the game, if I'm EA, I'm not particularly sure I'd even care about that person, or group of persons as a customer. It's... it's just crazy.


It's going to work out just fine for them. It's not going to make anyone not buy the game. If anything, it might interest more people in the game who are hawks fans, or Chicago area residents who might not care much about hockey, but are swept up in the excitement the team provides.


I think the picture looks goofy, but really. I don't care what's on the cover of the game. I care whats IN the game.