CHL to NCAA could be a problem for the game.
With nhl26 just coming around the corner which gets usually announced in August. Does EA have anytime in getting a licensing agreement with NCAA? I just view with the all these major NCAA contacts...
Forum Discussion
They hate when you ask about licensing. But yeah with CHL players going NCAA and USJHL having some players go CHL, this is going to be an absolute mess without NCAA and USJHL agreements in place for licensing. I know, I know, it isn't as simple as getting the licensing, but at this point its kind of a must, or else what's the point in having prospects at all?
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerWe don't hate that licensing is asked about. What is unfortunate is the idea that we're lazy or don't try hard enough. Adding leagues is an agreement between us and the leagues. If a deal can't be reached, we can't get the rights. As I've said many times, I'm not involved in licensing and can't go into the nitty gritty of securing those rights. I do know that they aren't the simple process that you all seem to think it is.
I am under no impression that the rights and licensing is a simple process or that it is easy. My point has been that it has become a necessity with the new NCAA and CHL mess that is developing between these leagues. Without the licensing agreement with NCAA and USJHL we are going to lose the best prospects in hockey. It has been bad before with many prospects coming from USJHL, NCAA, KHL and the many other leagues not represented, but it will be far worse next year without these agreements. Realize it will be a challenge, but without it, the game will be filled with AI generated prospects far worse than ever before, which will ruin Franchise mode
- EA_Aljo
Obviously, that's not ideal. We will always try to get as many leagues/players as we can in the game.
Something is that I do make a request in trying to grow the game is. Is have more of licensing rights to to audios to minor league teams and Canadian junior league teams to be represented in the game. - I feel like if you guys get those rights to those things, it will in fact grow the game in some way.
- EA_Aljo
Sure, that's always possible. It might grow the game some. Which of course we always want to do. But, there's always the chance it doesn't. So, that would be a big wasted investment of time and resources. For example, a ton of work went into adding the Winter Classic years ago. That's something most people played only a couple of times. So, is all the work really worth it? For some yes, overall, probably not. It takes away from working on other, more popular, areas of the game that really make it grow.
I think our main concern is the prospect issue with franchise mode as of now. I think with getting the NCAA in the game I think it would actually in fact cover majority of the game and increase users who are playing the game if it expands in that area. I think it would be super worth it put investment in getting that one specific league in the game.
