NHL 12 News Post

EA Sports NHL 12 Shatters Records in First Week

12:17 AM - September 21, 2011 by 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.

Game: NHL 12Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 26 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Gagnon39 @ 09/21/11 12:26 AM

Good to hear. Definitely my favorite sports video game.

# 2 Weapon X @ 09/21/11 01:12 AM

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

# 3 DJ @ 09/21/11 01:48 AM

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.

# 4 gopher_guy @ 09/21/11 01:52 AM

It's a helluva game!

# 5 savoie2006 @ 09/21/11 03:53 AM

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.

# 6 Therion7 @ 09/21/11 04:06 AM

The game is a bug-ridden mess as far as QA goes and every EA PR outlet where this back-slapping release has been seen is being met with a flurry of complaints.

Not had any fatal locks up yet? I'm genuinely happy for you. I didn't either for the first ten days. Now my ongoing season mode freezes - a lot. Mark my words, it will ruin this title for you.

EA should be releasing PRs to apologise for releasing the game in this state rather than bragging about how many customers have been duped.

# 7 steelerfan @ 09/21/11 04:15 AM

Sales = Budget = Improvements

Good news.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

# 8 savoie2006 @ 09/21/11 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Therion7


	The game is a bug-ridden mess as far as QA goes and every EA PR outlet where this back-slapping release has been seen is being met with a flurry of complaints. Not had any fatal locks up yet? I'm genuinely happy for you. I didn't either for the first ten days. Now my ongoing season mode freezes - a lot. Mark my words, it will ruin this title for you. EA should be releasing PRs to apologise for releasing the game in this state rather than bragging about how many customers have been duped.

Well it's software, bugs and such are bound to happen. I most likely won't experience a freeze for a couple of reasons. One, because I like to wait until the rosters are pretty well updated and have the rookies. Two, because I know there will be a patch that most likely fixes the issues or most of them around October (will probably be waiting on the rosters still anyways).

As I posted elsewhere, this is nothing new to this series or basically any sports game, so I'm not sure why the dramatics. Even the best games out there have issues right out the gate and usually if you just stick it out for a month or so, things are golden from there after a patch or two.

# 9 Vikes1 @ 09/21/11 04:52 AM

Great news for EA

!

I was wondering about how well NHL '12" would sell right out of the gate. With Madden releasing just two weeks earlier, and FIFA right around the corner. And of course the rotten economy. Great to hear the game is doing well.

This is certainly my favorite playing NHL game to date. I'm enjoying the heck out of it.

But as mentioned....the freezing problems many are having sucks.

I know my feelings would be a lot different if I was froze solid. I've been lucky....so far. [knock on wood.]

# 10 Therion7 @ 09/21/11 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by savoie2006


	Well it's software, bugs and such are bound to happen. I most likely won't experience a freeze for a couple of reasons. One, because I like to wait until the rosters are pretty well updated and have the rookies. Two, because I know there will be a patch that most likely fixes the issues or most of them around October (will probably be waiting on the rosters still anyways). As I posted elsewhere, this is nothing new to this series or basically any sports game, so I'm not sure why the dramatics. Even the best games out there have issues right out the gate and usually if you just stick it out for a month or so, things are golden from there after a patch or two.

Trust me as a dev myself, I know all about bugs.

This happening to many, many people on a regular basis is so poor. This is the freeze I and countless others get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtK4kSqkCEw&feature

It is not dramatic to be pissed that a game cannot even complete the core selling point of two teams taking to the ice and playing a complete 3 periods. That was never the case this-gen. 08, 09, 10 or 11 were never this fragile. The software completely locking up a high proportion of the time, usually when a CPU goal is scored, is absolutely rubbish.

It's a fatal flaw and the title should NOT have made it onto the shelves in its current state if adequate testing was done. All this talk of "wait for the patch" is nonsense. I'm not a beta tester. Sure, give a pass for online issues because that is always problematic as no amount of QA can ever simulate the server stress that is caused when the general public pick up the game en masse. However, constant lockups in single player and the front end are inexcusable.

We've had no confirmation of a patch to resolve these issues to my knowledge. All EA wants to talk about is how great the sales are.

EA has my money, the game I have doesn't function correctly at the base level. It's a trust issue and EA are rapidly losing it across all franchises. I play sports titles by other devs and they generally don't have the same volume of major problems. NHL used to be the least affected by serious QA oversights - not this year. If the 12 months development cycle does not provide enough time to make damn sure the game is watertight, they should look to the schedules or they'll end up losing more money than they gain in the long term.

And breathe...

# 11 FBeaule04 @ 09/21/11 09:29 AM

Just more reasons not to listen hardcore gamers.

Be ready for another summer of BS on all social media about useless thing while many aspect of the game will still be untouched.

It's not like we weren't aware this was coming.

That's the EA way, and while the game is good to my point of view, there still a lot of half-*** work done in this game.

# 12 FBeaule04 @ 09/21/11 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Therion7


	It's a fatal flaw and the title should NOT have made it onto the shelves in its current state if adequate testing was done.

I don't remember who from EA last year said that NHL 11 was tested from one cover to the other to make sure there wasn't any surprise when the game launch.

Yeah right! Take us for idiots like we all are EA. Last year, it was the AI that was untested and they didn't saw some pretty easy things to do. This year, it's freezing for many guys. If it's freezing for so many, how honestly can you expect us to believe you tested the game?

There's no testing in EA Sports games, that's an Urban Legend. Two exemple of lack of quality control at EA.

- They have the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada logo in the game. The team is call LHJMQ in the game, and the uni's are generic Red and White. Since the "Armada" is written on the logo, I guess no one ever thought it was there for a reason I guess.

- Go play a game at home with the Cape-Breton Screaming Eagles. Take a look at center ice. You'll see that they mispelled Eagles for Aegles. Nice!!!

You know how much EA is good when with all the bugs, freezing and errors they make, they manage to get out a good game that most people have fun with, and that just baffle me!

# 13 bwiggy33 @ 09/21/11 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_OS


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

This kills me. Just another reason for EA to spend even more unnecessary time on the online cheese fest, instead of continuing to build the offline play. This is not good news for offline players like myself.

# 14 SGMRock @ 09/21/11 01:01 PM

I have played 3/4 of a season of Be a Pro and I'm loving NHL 12. I played some online as well and between Be a Pro and Online I have not had one freeze yet?

Where are all these freezes everyone is so mad about happening? Is in Season mode, Be a GM or Versus mode?

Be a Pro is awesome these year. I know many complain about the lack of emersion when you are simming to your next shift. Honestly for me it make every shift I get that more more exciting because I can't just jump on the ice when I feel like it to get that goal the team needs. When I do get on the ice I feel like I need to pay attention to what I am doing and get it done with the time I have.

# 15 FBeaule04 @ 09/21/11 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwiggy33


	This kills me. Just another reason for EA to spend even more unnecessary time on the online cheese fest, instead of continuing to build the offline play. This is not good news for offline players like myself.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

# 16 BaylorBearBryant @ 09/21/11 04:36 PM

Glad to hear it. The NHL series continues to be my favorite EA Sports game. I do tend to play online a lot, but I feel it's more rewarding than offline.

As far as the bugs and the freezing go, it's nothing in comparison to the NCAA series.

I do hope it's resolved, but my initial thoughts are, "Get ready to wait a while."

# 17 FBeaule04 @ 09/21/11 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant


	Glad to hear it. The NHL series continues to be my favorite EA Sports game. I do tend to play online a lot, but I feel it's more rewarding than offline. As far as the bugs and the freezing go, it's nothing in comparison to the NCAA series. I do hope it's resolved, but my initial thoughts are, "Get ready to wait a while."

You know, I hope that's not the way people think at EA. Just like I wouldn't want someone in the NHL saying to their fans : "Hey, what are you whinning for, it could be 10 times worst, just look at the Leafs!"

If a company is starting to level by the base, we're in for a tough time. I agree that we are in for a while waiting for a patch. What really makes me sad is the fact that there's a new way to do things now. The game is out in september and most people will really put the game to the limit playing it a lot online. That way, EA is beta testing their game for a month, come out with a patch and a roster update late october (since the AHL players have to sign their union card so they can be put in the game).

On the other side, you think about it, and it makes sense. Which company will be stupid enough not to use people to test their game and even more, get 60$ (in some case, +25 with the season pass) to test their game instead of paying people to test it inside the company? I guess it's just making sense and we shouldn't be surprise to get games with bugs in them.

# 18 savoie2006 @ 09/21/11 06:37 PM

People it's not just games that are released with bugs, it's game systems and much more as well. You act suprised, but it's the same thing EVERY YEAR for sports games across the board. It's the same thing with every new console release. Look at the 360 and PS3 and the number of issues that have plagued both systems, yet people HAD TO HAVE them on day one and beyond. When will people learn? You have to give them time to work out the bugs.

# 19 ComaFaction @ 09/22/11 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	NHL has gotten 2 patches a year since 07 and rosters throughout the entire year. That's more than I can say for 2k's support with sports titles, especially NHL2k10 on PS3, you know, the sku they simply decided NOT to patch? yeah.

True, but I would really enjoy a "richer" roster update system. (ratings being adjusted more based on play during the season, etc.)

# 20 Qb @ 09/22/11 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	NHL has gotten 2 patches a year since 07 and rosters throughout the entire year. That's more than I can say for 2k's support with sports titles, especially NHL2k10 on PS3, you know, the sku they simply decided NOT to patch? yeah.

There's no need to bring up 2K, Realm.

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