Won't be coming to PC

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.
 

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

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.