Recent Discussions
The Future of NHL — A Living, Constantly Evolving Hockey Experience
I think it’s time for the NHL series to move beyond the “annual release with small tweaks” approach and become a true living hockey experience that grows all year. Right now, the game mainly caters to the same loyal crowd every season. But if NHL was so exceptional that it kept those fans and pulled in players who don’t even normally play sports games, it could become one of the most respected sports titles in the industry. With today’s technology — especially AI — there’s no reason this series couldn’t be the most authentic and immersive hockey game ever made. Continuous Live Updates Instead of drip-feeding features year after year, build the best version possible now and update it all season. Move to a subscription-based model so the game keeps evolving without needing to buy a new copy every September. Weekly roster updates, new animations, improved AI, and presentation tweaks rolled out year-round. AI-Driven Player Realism & Complete Face Scans Every player at every level — NHL, AHL, CHL, national teams, and all notable prospects(perhaps an agreement with NCAA College Hockey) — scanned player likeness's authentic up to date and updated in-game regularly. Automatically generate accurate skating stride, posture, shot release, and puck-handling animations for every player using real-world tracking and broadcast footage. No more manually editing skating styles — every player moves and plays like their real-life counterpart from day one. Updates dynamically during the season as players evolve their style. Extend to goalies with realistic stance, movement patterns, and save selections tied to actual NHL data. On-Ice Authenticity Realistic skating & physics tuned with player tracking and advanced motion matching. Smarter AI that adapts to your tactics and real NHL systems. True-to-life puck pickups, physical battles, and special teams play. Off-Ice Immersion & Storylines Dynamic season narratives shaped by trades, injuries, rivalries, and playoff races. Cinematic cutscenes for locker rooms, press conferences, draft day, award shows, and celebrations. Behind-the-scenes content like training camps, player charity events, and contract negotiations. Social media & fan reaction systems that respond to your season’s successes and controversies. Adaptive Presentation Commentary that reacts to what’s actually happening — win streaks, rookie debuts, milestone goals, playoff scenarios. Historic callouts when records are about to be broken. Authentic crowd and arena behavior tied to in-game moments, from chants to momentum swings. Expanded Game Modes & Events World Juniors, World Cup of Hockey, and Olympic hockey for national teams. Outdoor games like the Winter Classic and Stadium Series with unique visuals and ice conditions. Integration of leagues like the PWHL alongside NHL, AHL, CHL, and international tournaments. Fan-Requested Additions Pre-game cinematic intros, reactive crowds, and enhanced broadcast camera work. Smarter AI teammates with organic passing and positioning. Dynamic fighting engine with emotional context and momentum swings. Signature player celebrations and idle animations. Legends/Era mode with historic teams and players. Skills competitions integrated into All-Star and career modes. GM connected with the game being subscription based and constantly updated this feature could finally return so you can hop in and play a Franchise mode the exact day authentic to the current real NHL Why This Model Works Higher value = more loyalty — If the game was truly exceptional, players would gladly pay a higher initial price and stay subscribed monthly or annually. We all Keep our other entertainment apps even if we don't use them at times because we know we will. Something with true value is worth paying extra. Steady revenue from subscriptions + existing HUT income reshapes and improves EA revenue exceeding current trend. Constant engagement through seasonal content drops, commentary updates, and ongoing fixes gives the fans what we have been asking for years. Room to grow into more leagues, events, and innovations without being locked to a yearly reset cycle.(while still working with the NHL and NHLPA to create marketing and Buzz about the game every year in September with a yearly big change still as we get closer to the start of the real season) NHL could lead the sports gaming world with this model instead of waiting for competition to force change. If the game was truly next-level and constantly evolving, I think most of us would gladly keep paying to play it year after year. this is how much more potential revenue this model could make EA while also providing the best consumer fan experience to date. What do you all think — would you support a “living” NHL that delivers every league, event, and authentic detail possible, both on and off the ice?Ea killed nhl
@ea support y did u kill hut as well as almost every game mode beside be a pro u keep giving us useless upgrades that just break the game and update 1 or 2 game modes per year like be a pro needed a upgrade for 8 years and finally your giving it to us. Ykw I didn't want to do thus but I'm joining the group of people quiting nhl cause clearly u just see us as cash and don't care what we think thank you but no thank u first time in 8 years I won't buy my favorite sport Thanks to ea.NHL26 All NEW FACE SCANS NEEDED
Full Face that should be added based on breakout seasons, stats, draft pedigree, contracts, current nhl teams depth charts etc. Full authentic real scans needed Lane Hutson (confirmed from first trailer) Macklin Celebrini Matvei Michkov Will Smith Dustin Wolf Ivan Demidov Mathew Schaefer Wyatt Johnston — should be upgraded from AI to full scan AI-Generated Scan Needed (EA’s system using player likeness with generic hair) Zeev Buium Michael Misa Cutter Gauthier Sam Colangelo Jackson LaCombe Martin Pospisil Jason Dickinson Frank Nazar Alex Vlasic Artyom Levshunov Yegor Chinakhov Dmitri Voronkov Thomas Harley Simon Edvinsson Vasily Podkolzin Matthew Savoie Alex Laferriere Kaiden Guhle Mike Matheson Will Cuylle Will Borgen Fabian Zetterlund Noah Cates Pius Suter Matias Maccelli Filip Chytil Nils Hoglander Connor McMichael Aliaksei Protas Ryan Leonard Josh Doan Michael Kesselring Ryan McLeod Jiri Kulich Jack Quinn Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Connor Geekie Mavrik Bourque Zachary Bolduc Dalibor Dvorsky Jimmy Snuggerud Dylan Holloway Jake Neighbours Philip Broberg Yaroslav Askarov Zayne Parekh Oliver Moore David Reinbacher Rutger McGroarty Denton Mateychuk Alexander Nikishin Fabian Lysell Jackson Blake Gabe Perreault Likely to Have Generic Face Quentin Musty Beckett Sennecke Tij Iginla Sam Dickinson Konsta Helenius Cole Hutson Danill But Dmitri Simashev Berkly Catton Axel Sandin-Pellika etc. rest of 2022-25 drafts likely to have generics if missing from game already
EA NHL 26 FRANCHISE MODE NEED…
33 expansion should start a year later, allowing us to find and hire coaches and scouts, and then we would always have had new players when we start the expansion. If we could replace the AHL team when we start expansion, we could have created ready-made AHL teams for our expansion teams. I tend to change teams every now and then, and then I don't have to redo the entire AHL team Animated profile picture for players without a picture... incredibly confusing in 2035 when you don't recognize any players on the team... becomes impersonal and boring Let us change the height/weight and age of players when editing existing players. PLEASE!!!! remove alumni behind old teams like Nordiques, Whalers and North Stars so we can use them in Expansion without them looking stupid (also fix their arenas and audiences) Hope we can get some new team logos and goalie masks without other teams' logos on them. A little tired of hamburger and hot dog logos… Give us some cool onesAI IQ?
Any changes to the AI IQ for the 26 release? It’s a year overdue, you know, since you heavily marketed an overhaul of AI IQ just to release the same boulders on skates as 24. It’s very telling that all my posts regarding the false advertisement of NHL 25 are ignored by admins. EANHL is allergic to accountability. Your product is bad enough as is - adding false advertisement is INSANE.Faceoff bug since launch for '25. Won't buy '26
On launch, NHL 25 released with a game breaking bug that prevented your center from taking the faceoff in franchise mode. After reaching out to EA multiple times and being told it would be looked into, the bug still exists. For those reading, I know this is just another post of "not buying this year's title", but I'm posting this in the hopes that other people would see this and make an informed decision about purchasing the next game, especially considering how little the development studio prioritizes the player experience. Especially post launch.GM connected vs HUT
I'm curious if HUT is the reason we aren't seeing GM connected.. would an online franchise pull from that population? I have never got into Franchise, if GM connected was added I may try it, but I got college football and all my friends were excited to get a dynasty going and we played a few seasons but with all of us having diff schedules, jobs, kids, wives.. it became so hard to get everyone to play their games and we gave up. I started playing UT and just telling everyone "we can have an 84 ovr team" seemed easier to get a tournement going and let everyone build their teams whennthey have time rather tahn get everyone on every night to progress. With the new salary cap mode in HUT it feels like a great change. Of course if they roll out with a 99 ovr chara that is 3mil cap and creates an even bigger gap in team ovr it could ruin everything HAHA! Is it the drafting and stuff that people like in franchise? The stat tracking? Just curious what you guys like about GM connected. UT with a salary cap seems like it COULD be a bigger win to me than gm connected (that's just me though) maybe I'm missing out on franchise mode? Maybe I don't know why HUT is awful? Haha (sorry, I mostly only play WoC so I'm genuinely unsure and asking)AI Art in New HUT promos?
Just leaving this post here in hopes of a concrete answer from someone at EA: Is your team using generative AI for HUT cards this year? The HUT Heroes cards have a certain quality that feels that way. The visuals are one of my favourite aspects of HUT, and in the current landscape I think we'd all appreciate some transparency regarding the artists behind the card art. TIA.Be a pro, WOC
Hi EA, how about that idea from NBA, that you create your player in BE A PRO mode and trying to skill up your player and play with that player in WOC mode, as in that way at least become a sense to earn contracts for your player and spend money on gear or some boosts as it’s not so much fun to play with boosts against Ai as it’s not as difficult except the first half of a season. Would be cool if it could have an open city where you play against other player or with your mates against other teams. As you sign contracts and promotions you can see yourself on the bigbords or whatever. You buy for your player gear and outside clothes. And the last but not least is to customize your own equipment like skates or stick , make some LE version as in real lifeMore effort for online versus
I would like to see more out into online versus , which is the only game i play and there are plenty more like me . I havent been able to find anywhere an explanation of the win loss system /ranking , maybe create a whole new system with points for shutouts, hattricks , quitting , not quitting etc etc . And a rematch option would be great and still have it for points , also playing friends for points as well just makes too much sense. I have more but im forgetfull at the moment but whoever plays online versus knows where im going with this .
