Community ManagerGolf is a huge sport played worldwide. I imagine it also attracts a bit of an older crowd that doesn't necessarily own a game console.
American football, while possibly not as global as hockey, has an insane following in the US. The Super Bowl is practically a holiday.
Regardless of these, when looking at the overall market for interest in a PC version of a sim-style hockey game, if that interest was there, chances are excellent we'd see this and invest in it. I get that you all think because we're EA we can do this. Sure, I imagine we can make that happen, but is it really the best investment when it comes at a loss? You all like to tell us how money focused we are. If we weren't going to take a loss, don't you think we'd have a PC version? If the PC hockey market were as robust as everyone here is theorizing, wouldn't another company be doing it? EA isn't the only developer capable of making a sim-style PC hockey game. Why is nobody else doing this? Most likely because developing an authentic hockey game isn't as easy as everyone thinks.
Community ManagerI don't have those numbers. I'm not involved in that research. As far as piracy goes, things have changed a lot since then. Also, I don't know that hockey had a bigger market then, but games were also less costly to produce. Games weren't quite as complicated and online play has grown tremendously since then. Which also has a lot higher cost to support. Again, it's not an issue of not having enough money. It's an issue of investing that money with not getting that investment back.
With all due respect, given the EA NHL 23 forums most trending topic is the NHL PC thread, every EA social channel is flooded with messages asking for a PC port, and the EA NHL subreddit has daily posts asking when the PC version will come, I just don't understand how there isn't a perceived demand.
In every single place I see EA NHL being discussed, people are asking for a PC port.
Also - it's pretty easy to clarify some of the numbers for EA Sports games on PC, just reference steamcharts. Right now FIFA has 48,561 concurrent players. That is A LOT, that is within the top 30 most played games on Steam. Conversely, EA Sports PGA Tour only has 243 concurrent players. That is pretty low. Still, EA Sports saw value in bringing that game to the platform.
I have a hard time imagining NHL would draw lower numbers than that.
Here is a post from the NHL Reveal on r /hockey, the BIGGEST hockey subreddit. As you can see, the upvotes asking for a PC version of the game are LARGER than the post itself.
Here is a collection of comments on EA's official release video for NHL 2024
Anyway, this pattern is evident if you look anywhere. Twitter, Facebook, here, reddit, doesn't matter, people are asking for a PC port.
I don't think anyone at EA is telling you guys that you're mistaken about the interest in a PC version.
What they're trying to tell you is that interest doesn't rise to the level of EA wanting to invest into a PC version.
Community ManagerIf NHL did FIFA numbers, there would be a PC version. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Yes, I agree it's a popular request, but when you compare how popular the console version of NHL is to FIFA or Madden, there's a huge difference. People regularly comment here about how this game doesn't sell like those 2. Putting out a PC version isn't going to suddenly change that. I'm not denying that there are a lot of PC players, but they would still be a far smaller number than console players. There is a demand, but it also comes at a huge cost and chances aren't good that demand is going to offset the cost of building and supporting a PC version.
Everyone assumes a PC version would sell amazingly well. Why is it that game developers aren't seeing this? Most likely because they've done the research and feel it's not worth the investment of development and support resources. That and hockey on consoles is traditionally not one of the bigger selling titles each year. Hockey also not having the popularity of bigger sports is probably a part of that.
We hadn't released a PGA version in a few years so they could build the game to support PC from the beginning. We really can't sacrifice the console version of NHL to port it to PC. Putting the console game on hold while a less popular PC version is built would not be a wise decision.
quoted from this thread by an ea mod. this forum sucks balls by the way, why cant i just click reply and it does this part for me.
"Golf is a huge sport played worldwide. I imagine it also attracts a bit of an older crowd that doesn't necessarily own a game console.
American football, while possibly not as global as hockey, has an insane following in the US. The Super Bowl is practically a holiday.
Regardless of these, when looking at the overall market for interest in a PC version of a sim-style hockey game, if that interest was there, chances are excellent we'd see this and invest in it. I get that you all think because we're EA we can do this. Sure, I imagine we can make that happen, but is it really the best investment when it comes at a loss? You all like to tell us how money focused we are. If we weren't going to take a loss, don't you think we'd have a PC version? If the PC hockey market were as robust as everyone here is theorizing, wouldn't another company be doing it? EA isn't the only developer capable of making a sim-style PC hockey game. Why is nobody else doing this? Most likely because developing an authentic hockey game isn't as easy as everyone thinks."
end quote from some ea mod that doesnt really care about the community growth.
here is why there is noone else making it.
As of April 2021, Electronic Arts' largest acquisition is the purchase of Glu Mobile, for $2.4 billion. Of the 39 companies acquired by EA, 20 are based in the U.S., five in the United Kingdom, six in Continental Europe, and eight elsewhere. The majority of these companies and studios are now defunct, with some having been merged into other entities. Of the six companies which EA purchased a stake in, two remaining companies are based in the U.S., while three other U.S. companies are defunct. After acquiring a 19.9% stake in France-based Ubisoft in 2004, EA sold a remaining 14.8% stake in it in 2010.[10][11]
Each acquisition listed is for the entire company, unless otherwise noted. The acquisition date listed is the date of the agreement between Electronic Arts (EA) and the subject of the acquisition. Unless otherwise noted, the value of each acquisition is listed in U.S. dollars, because EA is headquartered in the U.S. If the value of the acquisition is not listed, then it is undisclosed. If the EA service that is derived from the acquired company is known, then it is also listed. According to data from Pitch Book via VentureBeat, the company has spent about $2.9 Billion on its 10 biggest acquisitions since 1992
quoted from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Electronic_Arts
there isnt much competition for ea because they bought 39 developers in the past 20-30 years. so dont feed us the crap about if it is profitable why isnt someone else doing it. your company bought alot of the competition, so it wouldnt have to go up against stiffer competition which would result in more developmental time and less profits.
@EA_Aljo wrote:We hadn't released a PGA version in a few years so they could build the game to support PC from the beginning. We really can't sacrifice the console version of NHL to port it to PC. Putting the console game on hold while a less popular PC version is built would not be a wise decision.
That's curious. There hasn't been a UFC release in years either but it seems past-gen consoles were dropped while PC is still not going to be supported.
At least judging by the beta registration page: UFC 5 - EA SPORTS - Closed Beta Registration
You Know what's really sad... it's the EA NHL Hockey (1991) is pretty much the game that started the whole EA Sports franchise (along with John Madden Football). That it gets so little respect despite being one of the grandfathers of EA Sports titles is a bloody shame.
The fans were there all along and the base would buy it up in a heartbeat ***IF*** the product wasn't recycled garbage. Back when the game was fun and innovative (and not this monetized UT gambling circus) this game sold like hotcakes.
It should also be moot. Since the game runs on Frostbite, porting should be a no brainer.
I sure miss the days when Electronic Arts made games for the masses, not just for the 'whales' and the shareholders. But that's the difference between Electronic Arts and EA. One was about passion and one is a bottom line corp. Never say a game is too costly to make or maintain... not when you're raking it in on the FIFA zombies.
/apologies for my tone, disgruntled since NHL 2001.
Community ManagerI don't even know how many dozens of times I've said this, but once again, it's not about the cost of porting the game. That's not the issue. There is a far higher amount of work that goes in to this and that would not be recuperated with a PC release. If PC hockey were as profitable as everyone seems to think, it would have been done by now. Why is it that nobody is making an authentic NHL game for PC? Is EA the only company that has researched this? Look, I get it, there's a very loyal group of PC fans that want this type of game, but it's a far bigger project and investment than people think and it's not going to have the return to make it put development of the console version on hold. We don't hold any exclusivity on the NHL license or hockey in general. Any company is able to acquire the licensing rights or just make their own authentic hockey game for PC, but so far, that hasn't been done.
FIFA and Madden have a big enough audience to support a PC release. Those audiences are way larger than NHL. Which is also in line with the popularity of those sports in general. So, is it about money? Yes. It simply is a very large undertaking with little return. It just doesn't make sense to do this as well as stop production of the console version which would end up causing a loss. This also means less money would get put in to future versions of the game based on poor sales for the PC version due to taking a year or 2 off to make it. Again, porting it to PC is probably the easier part. There's just so much more involved behind the scenes. We can't just copy and past the game to PCs and call it a day.
The pc years from ‘99 - 2009 are over, times changed and so are the innovations. It‘s unfortunate but it is what it is.
Im just here to say, i would really like nhl on pc.
I could care less if its a hard port, just add it to xbox gamepass / cloud gaming.
Wouldnt the xbox cloud gaming be relativly simple way to give pc gamers access? Since its just running the xbox version of the game?
There isnt really a reason this doesnt exist right?
Only downside if your paying a subscription fee to spend more money on HUT, so you need to keep paying to access. but at this point id take anything to play chel on pc
~some Canadian feller who wants to play chel on pc
Yea, yea I'm not sure what the background is to do that, but I'd assume it's the easiest approach for EA
I know that's how I play MLB the show, which isnt on PC but can be played through Xbox cloud
Idk I just hope there's a way soon. I miss chel, and wanna play so bad but I'm not gonna buy a console for a single game lmao
Honestly, this is the exact point of the pre-purchase. Much like Indiegogo for aspiring companies, a large company like EA could put out a no-risk investing inquiry to decide if the game is really meant to be developed or not. If sales don't meet targets, refund the investors.
All these games are built on PC's and like converted to PS/XBox. There is no way those two systems use all the same programs and system files just to make EA happy. Taking a game built on PC converted to PS and converted to XBOX but not being able to take the original files and make a PC game is ridiculous. To not take that original data to PC is literally wasted capital. 100% of the shots you don't take don't go in. THEY CAN CONVERT XBOX SPORTS GAMES TO PC ON THE PC XBOX STORE BUT NOT CHEL?
I won't deny that the NHL has a much more limited fanbase than the European Football or the NFL. However, it seems like they are only looking at the NA market, and not including the EU / RU market (RU is iffy atm, ukraine and what not.) but they definitely have investments in it as well. And the US market has been expanding since their last half assed attempt at a PC game. Colorado, Chicago, Vegas, LA have all had a great fanbase buildup over the last decade. Washington and Pittsburgh still have their Champions. Boston and Florida had surprise years as well (good and bad.) To deny the US market at this point is unresearched HERSEY.
The real reason this won't work is because EA continues to have a terrible track record with releasing games. AAA games not ready upon release date. Microtransaction greediness. Re-releasing the exact same game with minor adjustments to the artwork and the rosters. I'm not sorry to say this, when you finally release a PC port and its built on an 4-5 year outdated model compared to the current live versions on PS/XBox, and wonder why people hated it/told their friends not to buy it, that's not the MARKET's fault. Honestly, how would you feel if you went to go play NHL 2005 but got NHL 97? Who wouldn't be upset?
And literally, we all just acknowledged we know how EA works. Minor tweaks here and there, updated rosters, and MLB/NBA/NFL 24. Same system/format. Same graphics. It's just like Call of Duty. People will buy it every year. Since everything is digital now there is no manufacturing costs. Seriously. Give it a chance.
I imagine there is no hope other than the tiny chance it gets added to gamepass so we can use xcloud to play it.
Hey partner just wanted to point out EA Sports PGA Tour has a rolling 30day average of 164players with an all time peak of 1300. Not sure where the market is there, certain there have been more than 1300 people on these forums but yall keep deleting comments and locking posts. very weird
In a perfect world a portion of all Ultimate Team earning would be pumped back into the games, making them better quality overall; Unfortunately, this is the real world and UT earnings prove time and time again they don't need to improve anything and they'll still net crazy profits.
The game won't really get any better, nor will it have the ability to branch out (PC version for example), until people kick their gambling addictions and tell them NO.
@TTZ_Dipsy wrote:In a perfect world a portion of all Ultimate Team earning would be pumped back into the games, making them better quality overall; Unfortunately, this is the real world and UT earnings prove time and time again they don't need to improve anything and they'll still net crazy profits.
The game won't really get any better, nor will it have the ability to branch out (PC version for example), until people kick their gambling addictions and tell them NO.
That what you described up there is 'capitalism', where a company makes a product, and sells really well, and makes a profit, and then uses those profits to invest in it's employees/technology/infrastructure/innovate/better products/etc...
EA has long joined the 'crony capitalism' era, which is just make obscene profits, buy back shares, get higher stock prices for shareholders, continue to pump out same product with new number, charge more, spend less, buy up then let go entire dev companies, make employees do more with less, make record profits, lay off more people to increase share price, buy back stock, continue to sell shareholders on HUT, make sure CEO gets another yacht, to hell with customers who want a specific game for a specific platform from a company that used to pride itself on having started out being on every console from Atari/Apple/IBM/Amiga/Atari. Of course that was BEFORE the dark times.. before the 2000's.
Electronic Arts used to stand for something. Now, EA stands for low effort high reward HUT and microtransaction obsession to pad the shareholders.
Apologies to the admins for this diatribe. I'm venting. I haven't played NHL Hockey on PC since 2003.
