Everyone who has bought this game has a right to be fuming.
-The game is not cheap, but you want to support videogame hockey.
-The marketing stated presentation was upgraded; great!
-It was the main selling point for all offline players; everything else looked the same.
The reality is that the presentation has been downgraded. There is no debate here. It's cut and dried. The marketing, which now contains demonstrable falsehoods, is still being used to promote this title, even though this thread, Reddit, Operation Sports and other fora are as incandescent with anger and consumer regret for any EA backed title since the Battlefront controversy.
An IGN review appeared that again posts a false narrative of what this game actually is. Promotional material still hangs around post release even though it is not a true reflection of the title. More customers are duped, this thread gets larger and ever more discontented.
I'm not sure why EA think they get some kind of pass here. You don't. "Oh it's only hockey..." doesn't wash. The creator of No Man's Sky had tough questions to answer, Cyberpunk 2077 certainly received extreme heat and no quibble refunds were the order of the day.
There has to be official word from the producers of NHL 23 direct to the consumer on a clearly defined schedule of 32 team improvements to make this right. You've misrepresented your product in a shameful way and "we're aware of your feelings" doesn't cut it. This game costs as much as those other titles did on release and if this is the only triple A priced title you buy this year, then a game that is worse than NHL 22 offline with a roster move or two is a bad, bad purchase.
Goodness, you'd complain to the NHL itself but they'd just tell you to stick more ads on the box, and deal with it. And that's not too far from EA's response thus far.
Three points of action:
1. Instruct Microsoft and Sony to issue refunds on request of this title for owners of NHL 22 on Gen 9 consoles. Customers should not have to fight to prove misselling, armed only with this thread. Everyone involved knows what's happened.
2. Remove or edit the official marketing for this title. It's misleading and continues to fool more people into a quickly regretted purchase.
3. If the production and development team have any intention of addressing these issues in a tangible manner through patching, make that clear now. All customers know is that EA is aware of the "feelings". What does that even mean? That privately you've every intention as a company of doing nothing and hoping this blows over? It won't.
Doing nothing isn't acceptable to customers. I'm not going to use the word "community". It's used too often in sports games circles to foster some kind of acceptance of poor quality, bug-rife games because... hey.... the devs, the online players, the franchise guys... we're all in this together. We're all < insert sport> fans here!
Nah. Enough of that nonsense. Not any more. Forget the fact this is hockey. It could be spaceships at this point. EA didn't get to anger Star Wars fans remember.
EA have promoted and sold a game that doesn't stack up against the promotional material and customers who have paid 70 dollars upwards are exceedingly unhappy.
Make it right.
