Is the PC Community being Ignored By EA?
Every year the amount of people who want NHL on PC grows and every year its disappointment. Is the PC Community being Ignored By EA? as a person who moved fully to PC this year and as part of the PC ...
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i learned how to play hockey on the road with a ball and stick for 30 bucks at Walmart but okay lol. still has nothing to do with a game. We’re talking about video game fans who already watch the sport, love it, and want to play digitally. The cost of real skates or ice time is irrelevant when discussing a digital market. I also understand the business case you're making that Madden, FC, and F1 have larger global markets. But those titles also had to build that PC audience by continued PC support which NHL never got. FC and Madden didn’t always have strong PC presence support but over time built that player base. NHL could do the same. We’re not demanding the impossible. We’re asking for transparency, honest consideration, and acknowledgment that the PC hockey community is real, and growing. If EA continues to wait for demand to magically appear before investing, it’ll never happen. As for your claim that “anyone can make a hockey game” that’s technically true, but misleading. EA has held the market position and NHL license control for over 20 years. Most developers can’t justify the cost of building a full AAA hockey sim plus paying for NHL/NHLPA/CHL/NCAA licenses just to compete with EA. You may not have a legal exclusivity deal, but EA clearly has functional exclusivity through scale, legacy, and long standing league relationships.
But those titles also had to build that PC audience by continued PC support which NHL never got.
NHL was on PC from 1994 to 2009. As someone who took part in all the fun - online leagues, customization - I can assure you that today's PC Hockey community is nowhere near as passionate and prolific as it was during this time. However, consoles began to dominate the gaming market and EA made the decision to axe PC development to focus on the console. IMO, even as one of the most hardcore PC Hockey fans, it was a good move .
We’re asking for transparency, honest consideration, and acknowledgment that the PC hockey community is real, and growing.
Nobody denies there's a PC Hockey Community - but you have to understand it exists inside a bubble. The echochamber reinforces this belief everyone wants a PC title. Of course, if everyone you communicate with is a PC gamer.. it will always seem like EA is 'missing out' on a market.
EA has held the market position and NHL license control for over 20 years.
Anyone can petition the NHL and pitch a videogame to them in an effort to obtain a licensing deal. What does it tell you when not a single reputable developer has attempted to compete with EA while they were releasing PC games? And what does it tell you that even now - almost 20 years since the last PC release and not a single PC developer has come forward with a real game that could compete with the console version.
It should tell you that PC Hockey is not a market worth investing in. This doesn't invalidate your claim there are passionate PC hockey gamers - literally nobody is disputing that. However, what is up for debate is whether that would translate to a positive return on investment. Companies like EA have market research experts that do the real math (not just hang out in PC Hockey forums) and they've likely determined there's no worthy ROI on the market.
You may not have a legal exclusivity deal, but EA clearly has functional exclusivity through scale, legacy, and long standing league relationships.
EA built that through years of releases. There is literally nothing stopping anyone from doing the same, other than not having a full grasp on what's involved in actually developing a AAA hockey title.
I'm not even a Developer and its easy to see that a PC NHL Community has grown. Saying its smaller than it was in 2009 is a jaded answer and under looked.
The decision to axe NHL PC support in 2009 made sense for that time. PC gaming was in a very different place. it was smaller install base, piracy concerns, fewer tools to manage live service and anti-cheat. But in 2025, the PC market is the strongest it’s ever been. Crossplay is standard, anti-cheat tools are mature, and most of EA’s sports titles are already on PC using Frostbite. To suggest that the PC hockey community can never return to its old strength because it isn't there right now ignores how other sports titles rebuilt their PC audiences with consistent support. Look at Madden on PC post-2019, it was quiet at first, and now it's solid.
I agree echo chambers can misrepresent market size. But here’s the problem... EA has never actually tested the waters with a modern PC release of NHL. So when people say “there’s no ROI,” it’s based on assumption, not real world testing or a public statement with data. PC gamers asking for a release aren't demanding a miracle. they're asking for a trial, or transparency, not blind faith. And about those market research teams? no doubt they exist. But without actual numbers from even a single PC release in the past 15 years, how accurate is the ROI estimate? Other titles like MLB The Show on Xbox and Madden PC also started small but proved the demand by showing up consistently.
Also, Over 132 million monthly active users 33 to 35 million daily active users That means roughly 25–27% of Steam's users log in every day. Additional context: Peak concurrent users often hit 30–34 million, especially during major events or sales. Steam is by far the largest gaming platform globally, and it continues to grow year over year. then when you add in other PC platforms (like Epic, Battle.net, Xbox PC etc.), PC gaming easily exceeds console gaming market in active users. This was not the case in 2009 or in 2017. PC is the largest gaming platform globally when you count everything especially in markets like Asia, Europe, and Canada which can expand the reach for NHL also, sport accessibility doesn’t determine if something deserves a game port lol not everyone who watches a sport wants to play it physically. That’s the point of a video game. NHL should be no different than FIFA, Madden, or F1. Communities don’t grow when they’re ignored or shoved aside.. IMO every other EA Sports title on PC had to earn its place. NHL should be no different. If you don’t invest, of course there’s no return. you argue that “if there was a market for PC hockey, someone else would’ve made a game by now.” But that logic completely ignores the reality, EA already has the full package meaning the NHL license, a legacy fanbase, and a complete, yearly updated game engine. Then like i said competing against EA from scratch is massively expensive thing for anyone to do in a monopoly market, you’d need to build skating physics, puck mechanics, collision systems, AI, and a full game loop before even worrying about licensing. So of course no one else is jumping in. It’s not that the market doesn’t exist lol it’s that EA already owns it. No smart dev is going to dump tens of millions into building a brand-new hockey sim just to fight EA for scraps when EA could port the game to PC tomorrow and own the entire market outright and not only for hockey, the NFL, Fifa or FC. no one is gonna compete because EA already sits king in that market except the MLB because PlayStation owns that market and EA will never waste money trying to compete.
Yes, the PC gaming market is massive and Steam alone sees 30M+ users daily. But just because the audience is there doesn’t mean EA sees a return worth chasing.
Big Market ≠ Big Sales. Steam’s user base isn’t a guaranteed customer base. NHL is still a niche sport globally, and EA likely has internal projections showing PC hockey wouldn’t match FIFA or Madden sales. Not even close.
Porting Isn’t Cheap or Simple. NHL’s Frostbite implementation is deeply console optimized. Porting to PC isn’t “push to Steam.” It means reworking controls, anti cheat, UI, mod protections, and supporting thousands of hardware configs, all for what might be a relatively small player base.
Madden came back to PC, but it’s received minimal support and underwhelming sales. That likely confirmed EA’s suspicions that some sports titles just don’t thrive on PC especially without massive marketing or demand.
PC Isn’t NHL’s Core Audience. NHL interest is strongest in North America. The PC market's biggest growth is in Asia and Europe, where hockey doesn’t move units like soccer or shooters. EA likely sees limited international upside.
I think we all know this isn’t about fairness or community growth. It’s business. EA won’t gamble millions unless they’re confident in strong HUT monetization and sales. If the Madden release is any insight, NHL on PC likely wouldn't deliver that return.
At the end of the day, EA doesn’t skip PC because they think no one wants it — they skip it because they believe not enough people will pay for it to justify the cost.
