Won't be coming to PC
very disappoited.
Forum Discussion
162 Replies
This isn't going to be very popular to say but the entitlement in this thread is through the roof. If EA doesn't want to make a game, they simply do not have to no matter how profitable it could or couldn't be. None of us have any numbers or analytics that EA has done to make their determination yet people want to see that. They don't tell people where the money goes from packs bought and whatever else and again, they don't have to. That's their right.
The market is wide open on PC for an NHL game yet no one is making one but everyone is on here saying that they would make money doing it like EA haven't looked into this. It's kind of funny, people say (myself included) that EA is all about money and how much they can make but no one here can understand that they don't think they will make money. EA is an evil all greed company yet they won't make something that everyone believes will make money but now EA is evil because thwy won't do something that will make loads of money like people are claiming. Just simply doesn't make any sense at all.
I'm not defending EA at all, I've never been a big fan of how they operate but these arguments every year are always the same.
- EA_Aljo
Community Manager
I know we have the perception of being greedy. You also have to look at the cost of developing and supporting games that have very large communities. Without modes like Ultimate Team, chances are good we wouldn't have the advances that have been made over the years. I know many of you would be happy just having NHL 14 on repeat, but that's really not what we're going for. The idea is to keep advancing the game by improving on what we have and making new additions to try to satisfy the desire for a new game every year. Ultimate Team has helped with that. The more the game makes, the more we have to keep putting back in to it.
Which brings us back to one of the big reasons there is no PC version. I'm not going to begin to assume that sales plus microtransactions of NHL on PC would alone cover the cost of porting the game and supporting it. That's definitely not something I'm involved in. You make good points though that if there were the PC hockey market people are thinking, most likely another company would have jumped on that. AAA PC games are a big undertaking and tremendous to support. Which is why I'm really hoping that cloud gaming will become a viable option for future NHL games.
So old gen consoles are holding up computer version? This doesn't make sense.
@EA_Aljo wrote:I know we have the perception of being greedy. You also have to look at the cost of developing and supporting games that have very large communities. Without modes like Ultimate Team, chances are good we wouldn't have the advances that have been made over the years. I know many of you would be happy just having NHL 14 on repeat, but that's really not what we're going for. The idea is to keep advancing the game by improving on what we have and making new additions to try to satisfy the desire for a new game every year. Ultimate Team has helped with that. The more the game makes, the more we have to keep putting back in to it.
Which brings us back to one of the big reasons there is no PC version. I'm not going to begin to assume that sales plus microtransactions of NHL on PC would alone cover the cost of porting the game and supporting it. That's definitely not something I'm involved in. You make good points though that if there were the PC hockey market people are thinking, most likely another company would have jumped on that. AAA PC games are a big undertaking and tremendous to support. Which is why I'm really hoping that cloud gaming will become a viable option for future NHL games.
I will say that I have been very critical about EA not changing anything year to year but I said it somewhere else, I applaud EA for making big changes since this new dev team came in. I wont say that I like them all but im happy that they've made some fairly big changes.
I also want to say, we've had a few back and forth discussions that weren't always polite (sorry) but you've always been a stand up guy and helpful when people need help. I just wanted to say thank you for all you do, being in here, taking the lumps from the rabid fanbase that you do have.
- EA_Aljo
Thank you for the kind words. I can't tell you how much that's appreciated 🙂
@EA_Aljo wrote:I know we have the perception of being greedy. You also have to look at the cost of developing and supporting games that have very large communities. Without modes like Ultimate Team, chances are good we wouldn't have the advances that have been made over the years. I know many of you would be happy just having NHL 14 on repeat, but that's really not what we're going for. The idea is to keep advancing the game by improving on what we have and making new additions to try to satisfy the desire for a new game every year. Ultimate Team has helped with that. The more the game makes, the more we have to keep putting back in to it.
Which brings us back to one of the big reasons there is no PC version. I'm not going to begin to assume that sales plus microtransactions of NHL on PC would alone cover the cost of porting the game and supporting it. That's definitely not something I'm involved in. You make good points though that if there were the PC hockey market people are thinking, most likely another company would have jumped on that. AAA PC games are a big undertaking and tremendous to support. Which is why I'm really hoping that cloud gaming will become a viable option for future NHL games.
I am sure you're a good person but that isn't the issue, no one is claiming you or the NHL devs are greedy people. It is the corporation you are paid to defend that is greedy. However that is just how corporations are designed to operate. They exist only for their own benefit and not to benefit their employees or customers. They have some of the most predatory practices and it is sick to see. However this probably isn't the place for that sort of discussion.
Anyway sim type hockey isn't coming to PC because no one wants to fund it. Even the smallest kickstarter projects tend to have some other source of initial funding to get going and no one wants to make that investment in this market. Someone could build something from the ground up around pure sim hockey gameplay with no licensing and PC only and once they have it perfected they launch it on consoles and even have the option to add licensing later if they have the budget for it. Then again maybe user added mods alleviate the need for any of that.
TLDR: No one wants to take the financial risk on NHL pc.
@MegaRace wrote:
@EA_Aljo wrote:I know we have the perception of being greedy. You also have to look at the cost of developing and supporting games that have very large communities. Without modes like Ultimate Team, chances are good we wouldn't have the advances that have been made over the years. I know many of you would be happy just having NHL 14 on repeat, but that's really not what we're going for. The idea is to keep advancing the game by improving on what we have and making new additions to try to satisfy the desire for a new game every year. Ultimate Team has helped with that. The more the game makes, the more we have to keep putting back in to it.
Which brings us back to one of the big reasons there is no PC version. I'm not going to begin to assume that sales plus microtransactions of NHL on PC would alone cover the cost of porting the game and supporting it. That's definitely not something I'm involved in. You make good points though that if there were the PC hockey market people are thinking, most likely another company would have jumped on that. AAA PC games are a big undertaking and tremendous to support. Which is why I'm really hoping that cloud gaming will become a viable option for future NHL games.
I am sure you're a good person but that isn't the issue, no one is claiming you or the NHL devs are greedy people. It is the corporation you are paid to defend that is greedy. However that is just how corporations are designed to operate. They exist only for their own benefit and not to benefit their employees or customers. They have some of the most predatory practices and it is sick to see. However this probably isn't the place for that sort of discussion.
Anyway sim type hockey isn't coming to PC because no one wants to fund it. Even the smallest kickstarter projects tend to have some other source of initial funding to get going and no one wants to make that investment in this market. Someone could build something from the ground up around pure sim hockey gameplay with no licensing and PC only and once they have it perfected they launch it on consoles and even have the option to add licensing later if they have the budget for it. Then again maybe user added mods alleviate the need for any of that.
TLDR: No one wants to take the financial risk on NHL pc.Agreed on all counts. I think it's going to take something along the lines of BattleBit coming out to really show up the mainstays (Battlefield/COD) on how to do a shooter. Competition is the only thing that drives companies to do better.
My personal hope is that one day, someone comes out with an NHL game that doesn't operate on the yearly cycle, but instead works like Microsoft Flight Sim or Euro Truck Sim 2... it would simply be called 'NHL'. no year, no designation. The engine remains that same throughout it's lifecycle (shoot for 10 years). The same engine and base game stops fragmentation of the playerbase, people who buy NHL in 2028 will be able to crossplay multiplayer with the originals who bought it in 2025. The base game is a subscription of $40 year. Additional paid DLC's could be used for non-game altering items like alternate Jerseys, customizing players equipment, goalie mask/pads paintjobs. Nothing about the DLC's would inhibit the base game from functioning between 2 random people who decide to play online for the first time. Roster updates would happen in realtime throughout the season.
All because you've now 'subscribed' your game and have a guaranteed revenue stream, and because you haven't silod players to particular yearly releases, there are no dead lobby's and everyone is playing the same game. There would be no need to 'remove' features from games that existed in previous years, every feature that already exists stays and gets expanded on if they make the game better. Newly added features would tested through a beta channel to see if they're worth keeping or not.
That's the game I hope to see in my lifetime. As someone who's mind was initilly blown back in 1992 when I played the very first NHL Hockey on Sega Genesis... due to the limitations of cartridges and distribution and no internet, I can understand the yearly model and was perfectly ok with it. Every game was a great leap forward.
Somewhere along the way, this stopped being the case, with many years being complete downgrades, and with the internet era, the yearly model makes about as much sense as a bag of bricks.
Again, look how much longevity SCS Software got out of the Prism3D engine going 12 years strong. The Devs know the engine like the back of their hands and easily create new free updates and paid DLC content without breaking a sweat. If EA went with a longterm engine plan and gave people the right content.. I know the subscription model would succeed. This is one case where I wouldn't mind seeing the game using DRM with always checking in with EA servers.
Hello, I am waiting for years that NHL will be finally be back on PC and I wanted to ask: is there any plans on bringing back NHL to the PC?
with kind regards
Streusand
Edit: Merged with the already existing thread on this issue. -CM
There are currently no plans to bring the game to PC. Never know though - there's always next year
Thats the issue. its always "theres always next year"
i have been waiting for a chel game to pc for a long time, every year i get exited, maybe it will finally happen, just to be disaapointed again cause EA doesnt care about the pc market.Its just sad to not see it on PC.
