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 community who wants NHL on PC it feels like a pipe dream or never gonna happen. i wish EA would be honest and transparent about this so we dont have a little hope every year. that a NHL 26 or 27 or 28 will launch on PC. NHL is a top seller in canada and i feel it would be a top seller in our region (Canada) on PC too. i wish theyd just release nhl for one year and test the market since it hasnt been tested since nhl 09 which had no controller support. PC has been a popular platform since 2015 and grows massively every year . i just dont get it.

You’re blending personal opinions with corporate messaging, and in the process, making EA’s stance sound even more confused and contradictory.Let’s break down a few key points.“Hockey isn’t as accessible as soccer.”True — in real life. But this is a video game discussion. Gran Turismo players don’t own supercars. FIFA players don’t play for Manchester United. Accessibility of the sport has no bearing on a game’s potential success, especially when NHL already thrives on console.“PC isn’t NHL’s core audience.”You don’t say? It’s never been given the chance. That’s like locking a product out of a market and then saying, “see, no one’s buying it there.” Meanwhile, Madden has had five years of poor PC performance — and still gets a port every year. Why does Madden deserve patience, but NHL doesn’t deserve a test?“We don’t control the market, anyone can make a hockey game.”And yet no one has — because EA has held de facto control of the hockey sim space for over 20 years. You may not have legal exclusivity, but you’ve built the infrastructure, branding, licensing relationships, and fanbase. Acting like other devs can “just make one” is detached from reality.“If there were demand, other companies would be doing it.”False. That’s like saying “no one else made a console basketball sim for 10 years, so clearly NBA games aren’t viable.” 2K crushed that idea. Same could happen here — if someone took the chance. The problem is: EA refuses to be that someone, while still holding the genre hostage.“PC hockey games were always more popular on console.”Yes, because the last NHL game on PC was in 2008.Seventeen years have passed since then.Steam, Twitch, YouTube, digital distribution, social media — everything has changed.There is no such thing as a “history of failure on PC” because PC simply didn't get a chance in the modern ecosystem.“Madden, FC, and F1 have the playerbase to justify it.” Let’s be honest. Madden doesn’t. The numbers prove it.Madden NFL 21 peaked at 3,226 on Steam.Madden NFL 25 peaked at 5,917.Madden NFL 26 has <1,000 followers in 3+ months.You’re not defending logic. You’re defending complacency.There’s a PC community that wants NHL. It’s been loud, consistent, and patient. And instead of saying "Let’s test it once and see," EA keeps repeating "We don’t see the numbers."How could you? You've never looked.

Thanks for proving the point — that petition from 2018, with zero support from EA, no marketing, and no visibility across official channels, still got over 8,000 signatures.That’s 8,000 people who cared enough to act, in a time when EA was doing everything possible to pretend the PC community didn’t exist.And what did EA do?Nothing.Literally nothing.The petition itself even says: "Decision Maker: Electronic Arts – Awaiting response."Seven years later — still waiting.Imagine if EA had actually:acknowledged it publiclyshared it on their channelsran a limited PC testor just asked the player base via in-game surveysInstead, they ignored it completely — and now people throw this petition around as if it somehow proves "no one cares."No. It proves that people cared.EA didn’t.Thanks again for making that even clearer.

If that were the case, no games would ever come to pc. And yet, Battlefield, Madden, FC, etc. are all on pc. What's going to decide whether NHL ever comes back to PC will be whether EA views it as being profitable enough to invest the time and resources into a PC version of NHL.

Hasn't stopped them from putting FC or Madden on PC. EA makes multiple sports game franchises. This is the only notable one not on PC yet. Hacking is not why they haven't made the jump.

Is the PC Community being Ignored By EA?

61 Replies

RatedRGamer
New Rookie
11 days ago
Another reveal with out PC and i see tons of people angry about being ignored even on reddit tons a response but like i said EA hates PC so. this Forum proves it. its sad. we are never gonna get it. heres on of the reddit forums of alot ive seen today.
imagine playing nhl on a steam deck?!?
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1mj9oa6/ea_sports_nhl_will_not_be_coming_to_pc_for_the/?share_id=fPtb0PgIMkLOZavwy6YHl&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
RatedRGamer
New Rookie
11 days ago
Yup. ive been saying EA doesnt care. they just hate the pc community. NHL would do decent on pc
RatedRGamer
New Rookie
11 days ago
for real
KidShowtime1867
Hero
11 days ago
Denchiks37 wrote:
That’s 8,000 people who cared enough to act
Clicking 'Submit' takes so little effort and online petitions are always filled with bots.
Denchiks37 wrote:
EA was doing everything possible to pretend the PC community didn’t exist.
How does releasing Madden and FC on PC equate to EA 'pretending the PC community doesn't exist'?
Denchiks37 wrote:
The petition itself even says: "Decision Maker: Electronic Arts – Awaiting response."
Seven years later — still waiting.
EA isn't beholden to respond to online petitions.
Denchiks37 wrote:
Imagine if EA had actually:

acknowledged it publicly
shared it on their channels
ran a limited PC test
or just asked the player base via in-game surveys
Instead, they ignored it completely — and now people throw this petition around as if it somehow proves "no one cares."
Some of you are vastly underestimating the work involved in releasing a game on PC. A lot of you seem to think it's just a matter of EA clicking 'Release to Steam'. There's so much more involved than that and EA has clearly made the decision that investment into the PC market is not fruitful.
Denchiks37 wrote:
No. It proves that people cared.
EA didn’t.
Nobody is disputing that people care about a PC version. EA Sports has released Madden and FC on PC.
Not sure if you noticed this wile copying your ChatGPT generated response but it's clear:
Denchiks37 wrote:
Madden NFL 21 peaked at 3,226 on Steam.
Madden NFL 25 peaked at 5,917.
Madden NFL 26 has <1,000 followers in 3+ months.
Arguably one of the biggest sports franchises peaked at just under 6K players. That's abysmal.
It makes absolutely zero sense for EA to fire up a PC version of NHL when you look at those numbers.
KidShowtime1867
Hero
11 days ago
Denchiks37 wrote:
Previous Madden titles also show underwhelming numbers on PC:

Madden NFL 21 peaked at 3,226 players
Madden NFL 22: 5,602
Madden NFL 23: 6,169
Madden NFL 24: 9,526
Madden NFL 25 dropped again to 5,917
This AI-Generated post is hilarious. It lists terrible numbers for Madden on PC and then goes on to say:
Denchiks37 wrote:
Right now, this “no NHL on PC” logic just doesn’t make sense.
Too funny.
RatedRGamer
New Rookie
11 days ago
My Brother works for bioware. Works on dragon age. he also says EA is lazy and doesnt see PC as a viable platform for most games. so i know what it takes to make a game on pc. EA just doesnt care.
KWRussell
Rising Traveler
11 days ago
The "accessibility" excuse makes no sense. It's a video game. It's selling fantasy. Why else would Codemasters make an F1 game? And why would the "accessibility" test apply strictly to hockey on PC, but not hockey on console or F1 on PC? (Let's be honest, F1 is grandfathered in on PC because EA acquired Codemasters. We all know that a homegrown EA Sports F1 title would be console-only.)
If we want to talk about Madden's declining numbers, that didn't "just happen" like EA had no agency in the matter. EA made the intentional choice to withhold PS5/Xbox Series parity on PC for three years, and Madden customers voted with their wallets. Actions, meet consequences.
Even if EA can argue that technical issues held back Madden for three (questionable) years, what does that say for SEVENTEEN YEARS of no NHL on PC? That's not "Gosh, PC game dev is hard", that's just "[Bleep] off, PC gamers". That anti-PC attitude was what got the entire EA Sports PC lineup wiped out in the first place in the late '00s. It's never gone away, and EA will never stop deflecting blame back on "customers" they don't really want.
titus1029
Rising Hotshot
11 days ago
hiperay
New Ace
11 days ago
Lets be realistic here. I am not saying they are... but if EA was this "greedy corporate money hungry of a business" that people constantly state in Social Media posts, forums etc. and saw an opportunity to make money by releasing the game on PC, don't you think they would have done it by now?!? I would love a PC launch as much as any other person but I am sure they have plenty of people whoa are paid a lot of money to look at the data and see if it is worth it or not.
KidShowtime1867
Hero
11 days ago
Well my dad works at Nintendo and my girlfriend goes to another school.