will NHL 24 be on PC this year?
I really wish this would come to PC. nice fan base here.
Forum Discussion
111 Replies
- EA_Aljo
Community Manager
@mtuwolverine wrote:
That's why I also just asked if the NHL 94 game that's on playstation and Xbox could be brought over? That should be a whole lot easier than NHL 23 eh? It would give PC gamers an NHL game to play and maybe you'll see what the community is like on PC then.
If this happens, we'll make an announcement. At this time, I'm not aware of any plans for a PC release of any past or future EA NHL games.
- @EA_Aljo Please, for the love of god, let us have an NHL game on PC.
NHL 94 is better than nothing. PLEASE.
I will not pay for a monthly subscription on a console when I have a PC that I would MUCH prefer to play my games on. My xbox is a glorified Firestick at this point. In the past I used a capture card to play at my PC but since I only used it for NHL, I was essentially spending $60+ for the game, and then forced to pay another $10+ per month for live service.
So on the cheaper end of that youre talking what, $180 a year to play this one game. $120 of which is not going directly to EA... That doesnt leave me much for Hut Packs.
Im sorry, this is a game I can not play if it is not brought to PC. Im not rich and Im not a fan of wasting money, I bought every NHL game until I switched to PC. Man, I would be playing the crap out of it.
If the playerbase is too small, I get it, but I feel like everyone I have asked would rather play on PC. I'd want to get a peek at some surveys to know how far off it really is from profitable. Id also have to wonder if it is backdoor shenanigans between large companies to squeeze wallets.
All that aside. I would immediately purchase the game if I could play it on Steam.
@EA_Aljo wrote:Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate you took the time to share your thoughts. As far as not having a PC version goes, this has to do with numerous reasons that have been detailed many times. Basically, there's a small hockey video game PC playerbase. There also is a very large cost associated with releasing and supporting the game on PC. We'd have to put less focus on the console version to release a PC version so the console version would most likely be held back. Hopefully, we'll see more advancements with cloud gaming so the console version can be played through PCs. That is probably more likely to happen before a true PC version is released.
EAs PC ports are the problem. The last NHL game on PC was NHL 09. In a time where Xbox 360 and PS3 were getting hit stick and skill stick. PC was relegated to a PS2 port that was more arcade like.
This isn't an old problem it's persistent over the years. Madden when brought to PC in its initial year was the same version for PS4,XBone etc. Now you get a last gen port missing features and no crossplay.
NHL is built on Frostbite the capability for PC port is baked into the engine as you see Battlefield, Madden, Fifa all utilizing it and getting PC ports of some kind. I moved off console to PC as many others did in the past decade. NHL was a game I bought every year even when it lacked or took away features.
1. Make it Crossplay with PS5/Series X. You'd be adding more players to online/EASHL/Ult team.
2. You're getting the game on handheld/PC with Steam Deck and other variants.
3. NHL/Madden/Fifa make their money from micro transactions. It's why by December games typically drop to 30 dollars eventually going F2P on EA Access for 5 dollars a month. Game sales are almost irrelevant. It adds value to the 15 dollar a month PC EA Access Premium.
4. Lock the game to controller input and don't worry about KB&M. Many games do this.
5. Build the game for PC first as it's easier to port from PC to console. Then vice versa. Both consoles are close to midrange PCs in spec. If an indie developer can port a game with crossplay why can't EA?
Ultimately if the game reaches more sales via ult team/Game sales this grows the game. More money = more resources toward development. I'm tired of the same excuse year after year. "It's to expensive", "it's resource draining", "NHL doesn't make enough money". Make a good game, make it crossplay with all next gen consoles, get it on Steam deck/variants, Give the people what they want. He'll charge 80 for the PC version if that's what it takes.Been on here for 8 years asking for a PC port with thousands of others. My group of gaming buddies are also waiting for this but don't speak up on it. Every year is another disappointment.
- @DeMiGoD1988
Yeah you're wrong, Madden 22 is still alive on PC thanks to mods people have made, I doubt anyone else is playing Madden 22 or 23 right now besides PC players because they have succeeded where EA has failed, if you would like to see all the cool mods people have made, watch some youtube videos on it and you'll see why everyone wants the NHL series on PC, it's not because we want to play stock NHL, it's because we want to mod it so we can make it better since EA has proved time and time again they can't. We could even make accurate NCAA teams with accurate jerseys, logos, rosters, arenas, and even accurate presentations, stop being so ignorant and closed minded, and think about all the possibilities NHL on PC could bring. - @DeMiGoD1988 I am so sick of random people defending EA. they make a stupid amount of money each year... If you can provide numbers with why they will lose money on this please do tell. Its not the same people every year look at the names.
I am a senior software engineer in the bay area... they have Madden on PC. they have Fifa on PC. the games use the same engine. not only that but porting it to PC is a one time cost (for the bulk of work) then after that its just maintenance (very little would be PC specific). The core game is there and the PC specific stuff could most likely be copy and pasted with little modifications...
As for servers... they scale with users. lets say theres 100-500 players online at a time thats a very small amount of servers relative to console... BUT I would assume theyre just servers they either host or AWS. just spin up the VMs to support that...
Idk why youre defending them - @EA_Aljo Put me in contact with the hiring team, I will come work at EA and do it myself. Its a solvable problem with very low cost. let me talk with a manager and lets see what we can do to make it happen. Ive got no problem working OT for free. lets make this become a reality. im sick of seeing threads like this every year for the past 10 years...
So if racing is the only sports title that is worth porting to pc, why do they do it for FIFA, Madden, etc?
@f308f9f718d1885e wrote:
@EA_AljoPut me in contact with the hiring team, I will come work at EA and do it myself. Its a solvable problem with very low cost. let me talk with a manager and lets see what we can do to make it happen. Ive got no problem working OT for free. lets make this become a reality. im sick of seeing threads like this every year for the past 10 years...Please apply, here’s a link to the linkedin application, I would love to see it happen. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/systems-software-engineer-nhl-at-ea-sports-3531362583?utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&utm_source=google_jobs_apply&utm_medium=organic
- @bzisniper Unfortunately I've got a job im happy with rn. Dont want to waste time applying. If someone gets me into contact with someone that can make it happen id love to see what we can do. Hell id even work weekends in addition to my current job. But would love to chat. maybe if some day i decide to quit my current job id apply.
As an embedded fw/sw engineer, Id feel pretty confident in getting this done in under 6 months (depending on how their codebase is organized) - EA_Aljo
It's been explained many times how there is a lot more than just porting the game and doing maintenance. You can read through all the threads to see these conversations. Supporting the game has a very high cost associated with it. This would also take attention away from the console version. Which is where the very high majority of people would be playing.
