Is the PC Community being Ignored By EA?

Denchiks37 wrote:

Comparing two completely different sports and then using the sales performance of one to justify never releasing the other is completely flawed logic.

but you did it first? My dude, if you're going to use GPT to generate an entire response, at least proofread it. 

You’re misrepresenting the argument entirely.

I never said “Madden sold badly, so NHL should too.”
What I said — and I quote myself — was:

“Madden’s PC run hasn’t delivered major results. NHL could easily match or surpass it if given the opportunity. But that opportunity is constantly denied — based on outdated assumptions, not facts.”

That’s not flawed logic. That’s calling out the inconsistency in how EA applies standards.
Madden gets continued support despite weak performance. NHL doesn’t get a single test.
So if we’re basing decisions on performance — then why is Madden still here?

If you’re going to call out logic, at least read what was actually said.

Also — “you used GPT” isn’t a valid argument. I could write my post in Notepad, Google Docs, or with a stick in the sand — the numbers and logic stay the same.

Try harder.

One bad experience several years ago shouldn’t be the end of all direct communication forever.

It was more than one bad experience. 

If a community is only allowed to submit feedback into a void, with no expectation of reply, eventually people stop bothering. And that’s not because they’re rude — it’s because they feel ignored.

It doesn't go into the void. Well, some of it does. The stuff that's not very constructive and includes rude comments never gets relayed to the dev team. Otherwise, feedback is regularly sent over. I can't stress this enough. We're absolutely aware of the desire for a PC version. Hopefully, it happens someday. I'm not going to go into more detail since it just invites similar comments to what the devs experienced here before. So, thanks for the feedback.

Denchiks37 wrote:

Madden’s PC run hasn’t delivered major results. NHL could easily match or surpass it if given the opportunity

based on what logic. 

KidShowtime1867​ these are from a post by Aljo

He argued that Madden and FC are more popular than hockey, yes this is true. And a PC version of NHL is not worth the investment.

Madden and FC are on PC because those sports are way more popular than hockey. We would love to have a native PC version of NHL someday. At the moment, it's not worth the investment it would take to make it happen.

Then he added that the NHL audience would need to grow in order for them to invest in a PC release

Hopefully the audience grows in the future so we can invest in a PC release.

What people are arguing is the fact that Madden has not faired very well on steam with NFL 24 being the most successful with just under 10000 players and a near 4000 player drop with the latest rendition (NFL25). 

EA’s argument that NHL on PC is not worthy of investment because its audience is not large enough, yet an online petition with “verified signatures” previously showed it would of had sales comparable to madden or even slightly higher. 

So with a potential playerbase that could possibly rival another EA sports title on PC numbers wise we are asking why is NHL being denied a PC release given the potential for a playerbase that is possibly larger than the average playerbase of the entire madden series on PC. 

The average peak playerbase across all madden games on PC is 6030 players

fancy copy paste to say no

EA puts out survey's every year asking customers what platforms they primarily game on. 

Those surveys are unspecific to NHL, a survey tailored directly for the PC release of an NHL game would provide the accurate data they need. Asking "what platforms do you primarily game on" and "would you be interested in playing NHL on PC" are two completely different things and you cannot extract data from the surveys you are referencing and claim it as insufficient data to support a PC release because its not asking that question, its asking where do you primarily play.

No it really wouldn't because it is much easier to click a button saying "I support this thing" vs "I will spend 70USD/100CAD to buy this thing". If you don't think that NFL has a bigger fanbase than the NHL, then you are living a fantasy. Here are the numbers via Sports Business Journal via links for you to see it for yourself but Ill just talk about the most recent data I found for 2020 - 2023:

Avg viewers NHL : NHL
2020: 391K / 2021: 467K / 2022: 465K / 2023: 504K

Avg Viewers NFL: NFL
2020: 15.4M / 2021: 17.1M / 2022:  16.7M / 2023 17.9M

And before you make the argument of something like "well there are more games in the NHL then there are in the NFL", I'll say okay.... silly argument but I'll play along. So lets take the NHL numbers and multiply them by 5 (16 games vs 82, im rounding to 80)

NHL: 2020: 1.95M / 2021: 2.335M / 2022: 2.325M/ 2023: 2.52M

NFL: 2020: 15.4M / 2021: 17.1M / 2022:  16.7M / 2023 17.9M

Okay that didn't work what about if we take the NFL's numbers and divide them by 5. (Less games attracts more fans to watch theory)

NHL: 2020: 391K / 2021: 467K / 2022: 465K / 2023: 504K

NFL: 2020:  3.08M / 2021: 3.42M / 2022: 3.34M / 2023: 3.58M

So even in the flipped scenario of the NHL having only 16 games and the NFL having 82: 

NHL: 2020: 1.95M / 2021: 2.335M / 2022: 2.325M/ 2023: 2.52M

NFL: 2020:  3.08M / 2021: 3.42M / 2022: 3.34M / 2023: 3.58M

THE NFL HAS AT LEAST 30% MORE VIEWERSHIP YOY.

and this is a JOE SCHMOE doing the research for free. Now imagine the people who are getting paid big bucks to do the research on whether or not it is valuable for them to make a PC PORT for NHL when the Madden one has completely flopped?

Just putting this here to show support for PC gaming, but the vast majority of people I play hockey with have PC. With the rise of console-like PC handhelds and Microsoft’s shift towards software over hardware, there’s going to be a massive shift in PC users. I know I’m not getting the next console that comes out, and every person I game with shares the same sentiment. I’ve already began transitioning to PC gaming with a gaming laptop. The future to me is clearly PC gaming. 

Also, nobody does petitions because they’re made up by some nobody posting the millionth one in the past decade. If EA made a poll on social media “will you buy NHL on PC?”, I'd bet money you'd see an overwhelming number of people telling you what the minority of vocal ones, not vocal minority, have been saying for years.

I also truly believe the adult demographic of people that enjoy hockey are way more likely to be on PC than most other sports. 

EA too busy with Battlefield to care about people wanting EA NHL on PC. Apparently they listened to people about Battlefield, but don't listen to the people about EA NHL. Maybe someday EA will listen to the NHL community.