NHL TeamThere has never been a sim hockey game, every year the game is arcadey. It's even more arcadey now than it has ever been. People want simulation style games. They want to replicate the sport they see on TV and the assertion that they don't is why this game gets disliked. If you have a passionate fan base word of mouth sells your game as we bring people into it. Making an arcade game and hoping people like it doesn't do that. It's just not correct in what brings people into video games I'm sorry. The highest selling games are hardcore that brings in casuals because the fanbase is rabid. You can see it with every game that gets big. They have arcade visuals with hardcore systems of gameplay.
In sports games you cite Madden and FC and for years they have gotten bad community reviews yet they still sell because the sports are popular not because the games are great. You literally own the rights to football it's the only football game people can play. Madden sells because of that. NHL is the same way. You are the only hockey game on the market. You get sales because of that. Not because your gameplay is amazing.
