Nhl 25 for pc
I was wondering if there was any plans for Nhl 25 to come to pc my friends and I would love to play just dont want to buy a ps5 or Xbox. Thanks in advance.
Forum Discussion
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
Community ManagerHey there. Something people don't think about when releasing the game on a different platform are the very high costs of supporting it. Making the game playable on PC most likely isn't the biggest challenge. We would need to divert resources from the far more popular console versions to work on issues with the PC version. Which means, the console versions won't get the attention they normally do. Not to mention the constant battle against cheaters. This is just a fraction of the costs that would go into a PC version of the game and it's very possible there wouldn't be a high enough amount of players to support it. Regardless, hopefully someday, there will be a true PC version rather than waiting for the gamepass release.
Totally understand where you're coming from — support costs, cheat prevention, and resource allocation are all real concerns. But I think focusing purely on potential raw sales for a PC version might be a bit short-sighted.
EA Play as a platform needs depth and breadth to thrive long-term. Adding titles like NHL to the PC library would boost its value significantly, especially with more and more players moving to handheld PCs like the Steam Deck. It’s not just about one-time sales — it’s about growing the ecosystem and keeping subscription platforms healthy and competitive.
And honestly, NHL might perform on par with Madden on PC, or better. The NHL has more global appeal, and PC is often the primary platform in many of those regions — that broader reach could easily offset the perceived risk.
Also, respectfully, EA’s business instincts haven’t always been perfect — SimCity, Anthem, and even Dead Space (before the remake) were full of potential that may have been underestimated. NHL on PC could easily be another missed opportunity if written off too soon.
Last thing — just out of curiosity, how much of what you're sharing reflects official internal insight from EA, and how much is your own (very much appreciated) perspective? Either way, thanks again for engaging with us. It really means a lot.
- EA_Aljo
And honestly, NHL might perform on par with Madden on PC, or better. The NHL has more global appeal, and PC is often the primary platform in many of those regions — that broader reach could easily offset the perceived risk.
American Football is handedly more popular than hockey. I really don't see NHL matching the sales of Madden. A PC version has been researched for years. Not by me. I'm not involved. My comments reflect the conversations I've had about this with the dev team over close to the last 10 years. If we could determine the game would do well on PC, that would have happened by now. Also, seeing as no one else has made a sim style hockey game for PC, most likely, the market just isn't there. We don't have an exclusive license for the NHL or hockey in general. Anyone else is welcome to do this. There isn't even another game like this on console. That should further tell you that it's possible the market isn't there.
Really appreciate the detailed response and the context from your long-standing conversations with the dev team — that kind of insight is incredibly valuable and helps clarify a lot.
You're absolutely right that American football is more popular overall than hockey, especially in North America. But my thinking is more about where the potential player base is. NHL, as a more globally recognized sport than the NFL, could benefit from stronger PC engagement in regions like Europe, where PC is often the primary gaming platform. That said, I agree it’s tough to compare apples to apples without concrete data.
On the lack of competing sim hockey titles: I understand that the absence of others in the space might suggest low demand — but it could just as easily be a reflection of EA’s long-standing dominance in the genre. No developer is going to create a PC-exclusive hockey sim. That kind of project would need to exist on consoles too, where EA has been the de facto hockey game provider since 1993. It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. EA's version is the definitive sim, so others may simply see no viable market entry.
And honestly, that argument — "if there were demand, someone would have done it" — can always be made right up until someone does take the leap and proves otherwise. Electric cars existed in the early 1900s, but it wasn’t until Tesla challenged the status quo that the market truly opened up. And just to say this respectfully — EA's business insight hasn’t always been flawless either, with some high-profile misreads like SimCity that I mentioned earlier. Of course, I fully recognize that I’m just a guy on the internet and not exactly a market analyst — I just raise this to highlight that even big players can sometimes miss where things are heading.
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to have this conversation so openly. I know none of this changes things overnight, but I think I speak for a lot of players when I say we really appreciate your time — and we’re still hopeful that the right moment will come for NHL to finally hit PC. This needs to happen. EA play should not exlude their own games from their paltform, it simply doesn't make sense long term and I bet that EA absolutely knows this.
- EA_Aljo
You of course bring up some good points. We'll just have to wait and see if the people that make these decisions agree take the chance. Thanks so much for all the feedback.
