My nhl friends ask me, what is the selling point? Does anyone have any idea? Ice Q? Better AI positioning, the ability to open up your hips while using vision control? With the news of no GM Connected, because clearly 11 years of development time isn't enough , (yet somehow hut continues to get nonstop resources) during that time , what exactly is the selling point. I can't understand any reason to buy this game. The game releases in 2 weeks, ea keeps pushing preorders, and all they've done is released a 4 min video "deep dive" (last year's was over 15 minutes!) , and a blog post that took 5 minutes to write regarding minor presentation adjustments. Let's not forget about the revolutionary score bug update, sorry I forgot. This game has no identity, no life, no hype a mere 2 weeks before launch. At this point we have revamped franchise mode, which I guess will be another 5 minute blog post? Why even highlight revamped franchise mode if getting connected franchise wasn't going to happen? How do the other ea titles have it? Ea keeps asking saying they need to look into what fans want, just copy the other ea games! We just want an online franchise mode that isn't buggy with many commissioner settings to tinker with. NHL 25 is honestly appearing to be the most minimal effort, disappointing NHL game since NHL 15. Utterly disappointed

It’s staggering but well earned by EA after at least 3-4 years of incomplete, buggy, and frustrating NHL releases.

I think that you cant make everyone happy with the game, because for example online HUT/EASHL players wants and needs different things than the offline play now/Franchise/season players wants.But it would help to have options of things instead of forcing the online improvement on offline players or the offline improvement on online players.For exampel removing the Full Broadcast was good for HUT players that wants to get into games fast, but for the offline players that wants every game to mater it was a really bad decision.EA did the same for FC24 when they removed lineup intro before games, good for online, bad for offline.Let us have options to choose from.For example:Full Broadcast - 4 min intro with pretalk. grudge stats, goalie stats etc...Normal Broadcast - 1,5 min with grudge stats, goalie stats etc.No Broadcast - No intro - just jump into the faceoff of the game.

To be fair - the community has been asking for TV Style presentation, Online Franchise/GM Connected and some kind of revamp to Be A Pro for over a decade now.In the context of OP's original question - "what exactly is NHL25's selling point" - it's hard to conjure up an answer that would justify people dropping yet another $80-$120, the same price for games that release brand new game engines. Don't get me wrong, AI improvements are great and the change to vision control combined with reaction animations will likely result in seeing some refreshing player interactions at different vantage points with the 'infinite camera system'. But we've yet to see if there have been any quality-of-life improvements to WoC. There was brief mention in a video of rebuilt offensive zone strategies 'from the ground up' - but has the issue been fixed in OVP where we still can't save lines and strategies?You've got a player-base that's been loyal for 30+ years and has been begging for some kind of online season mode to play with friends after it was removed during the transition to console exclusivity . It was re-branded as GM Connected for 2 years but suffered terribly from cumbersome league administration tools and a mobile app that was ahead of its time, only to suffer from limited usability due to poor performance.EA incorrectly assessed data on their end and concluded GM Connected was a mode that was 'never played' and under utilized, thus resulting in it getting the chop from future versions. In my opinion, there was a push for HUT and it took priority because there was no way to shoehorn in microtransactions to a franchise mode that made sense.

The selling point is the same as it is every year: everyone's moving to the new game, so you better buy NHL XX if you wanna continue playing HUT/WoC.

EA did this to themself. I suspect the reason there is no beta this year is because you know it would generate poor PR and would hurt on the preorder side of things.

What exactly is NHL 25s selling point?

SummerOfDekes
Rising Traveler
7 days ago
The selling point is the same as it is every year: everyone's moving to the new game, so you better buy NHL XX if you wanna continue playing HUT/WoC.
- NeonSkyline21
  Seasoned Rookie
  4 days ago
  DUDE, you stole my comment lol. This is what I was going to write.
  EA has a built-in incentive for people to move to the new game and that's exactly it: the majority of online players are going to move to the new game. If you want to continue finding online games (whether it's OVP, HUT, or EASHL), you are forced to buy the new version of the game. Very convenient for EA Sports.
Bahamuta
New Traveler
6 days ago
2 weeks from early access and we have yet to see anything about this game except a 5 minute gameplay video, and some snippets of features they already spoke about. Oh dont forget though, the ratings are coming out for players soon! This is the first year in a while, even the bad NHL years that i dont have the game preordered a month in advance. There is nothing that makes me feel like i need to buy this over NHL 24
FirstRoundBust32
New Novice
6 days ago
Same as its been for 15 years. You have no other choice. If you want to play a up to date licensed hockey video game, you have to play this one. That's the selling point.
- NeonSkyline21
  Seasoned Rookie
  4 days ago
  It ain't rocket science. You are correct.
admiral745
Seasoned Traveler
8 days ago
At this point they have barely told us anything, and early access is only a couple of weeks away. Most games use the pre-release period to build hype, so far, they continue to rely on previous years for sales. This is not the way to have a marketing campaign. Why not get some of us long time users involved in beta tests and marketing hype? Some of us streamers could help with videos to build hype, this is exactly what others gaming companies do, but EA is lazier and lazier every year.
Stubo_NHL24
Seasoned Novice
8 days ago
The negativity about the game that no one has played yet is staggering.
How about giving it a chance first before throwing the toys out the pram.
- 100pVRX
  Seasoned Novice
  7 days ago
  It’s staggering but well earned by EA after at least 3-4 years of incomplete, buggy, and frustrating NHL releases.
- KidShowtime1867
  Hero
  7 days ago
  To be fair - the community has been asking for TV Style presentation, Online Franchise/GM Connected and some kind of revamp to Be A Pro for over a decade now.
  In the context of OP's original question - "what exactly is NHL25's selling point" - it's hard to conjure up an answer that would justify people dropping yet another $80-$120, the same price for games that release brand new game engines.
  
  Don't get me wrong, AI improvements are great and the change to vision control combined with reaction animations will likely result in seeing some refreshing player interactions at different vantage points with the 'infinite camera system'.
  But we've yet to see if there have been any quality-of-life improvements to WoC. There was brief mention in a video of rebuilt offensive zone strategies 'from the ground up' - but has the issue been fixed in OVP where we still can't save lines and strategies?
  You've got a player-base that's been loyal for 30+ years and has been begging for some kind of online season mode to play with friends after it was removed during the transition to console exclusivity . It was re-branded as GM Connected for 2 years but suffered terribly from cumbersome league administration tools and a mobile app that was ahead of its time, only to suffer from limited usability due to poor performance.
  EA incorrectly assessed data on their end and concluded GM Connected was a mode that was 'never played' and under utilized, thus resulting in it getting the chop from future versions.
  In my opinion, there was a push for HUT and it took priority because there was no way to shoehorn in microtransactions to a franchise mode that made sense.
  - NeonSkyline21
    Seasoned Rookie
    4 days ago
    Agreed. I know you're an OVP player like me and I'm feeling a little dubious about the AI improvements they showcased. That one clip where they intended to show the offensive player in the slot "shaking his defender" to get open was ESPECIALLY worrying because instead of the offensive player getting open due to something they did, the AI defender very clearly just leaves his man and skates into the crease.
    This is an artificial way to create offensive opportunities and I get that it's somewhat necessary in a mode with AI players BUT there has to be a more cause-and-effect way to do it. Perhaps having it so that the stronger player gets body position on the other or the player with better agility outskates the other, etc etc.
    
    PS KidShowtime1867 you might not know this but there IS a way to save your lines/strategies for OVP (at least until a roster update comes).
    What you need to do is:
    Go to the OVP team selection screen
    Select your team and jersey
    Before readying up and getting sent to the "search for game" screen, press square (for "settings")
    Any line-changes/strat-changes you make before getting to the "search for game" screen will be saved for future games if you do it this way
    Hope that helps!
- NeonSkyline21
  Seasoned Rookie
  4 days ago
  Brother, I have to be honest: I haven't seen anyone complaining about anything unreasonable on these forums. There might be the odd angry post with no replies/attention but most of the posts have been reasonable gripes about things that are either seemingly missing from NHL25 or bugs/errors that haven't been addressed.
TTZ_Dipsy
Hero+
8 days ago
I am glad they finally ditched last gen but after the recent and disappointing PS5 Pro pricing announcement I don't even know if I'll get to play NHL with my buddy at all.
- KidShowtime1867
  Hero
  6 days ago
  You could just buy a ps5. Ps5 pro isn't really 'next-gen'.
  - TTZ_Dipsy
    Hero+
    6 days ago
    Buddy just has a PS4 and I've endured long enough - I don't need to upgrade but it makes the most sense for him to spring forward
- NeonSkyline21
  Seasoned Rookie
  4 days ago
  I'm a big fan of PlayStation as a product and have been since the PS1 but I agree I was a little disappointed by the announced price of the PS5 Pro. I look at it through the lens of someone who got his PS5 for $400 on launch day - which in retrospect is an insanely good deal for a decently powered PC/console - and paying $300 MORE for a mid-gen refresh is out of the question for me. It's almost double the price of the original console whereas the PS4 Pro was the SAME price that the PS4 was at launch.
  At the same time, I realize that it's not a necessity for me at all and it's an "enthusiast's" product at the end of the day. It's only for the people who have an abundance of discretionary entertainment spending money and want to be on the cutting-edge. That ain't me. I still have an iPhone 12 Pro, after all.
qbz49j8um3rf
New Rookie
7 days ago
The selling point is "We're turning updates/online modes off for previous games".
- NeonSkyline21
  Seasoned Rookie
  4 days ago
  To be fair that happens at around the NHL's trade deadline every year lol.
RatedxPGxEnigma
New Novice
8 days ago
The same thing it is every year; it's the only NHL console game so deal with it or get nothing. They do the same thing w/ UFC & you can argue Madden as well
TheUnusedCrayon
Rising Novice
6 days ago
Yeah this is the least hyped year I've ever seen and I've been following the game since 93. It really seems as if there were absolutely no resources pooled into this from the information we have been given. Unless franchise mode hits a home run I'll be shocked to see anybody hyped up about this game. This should easily be my favourite game to play and it is so far 2nd last in play time for sports games for me after golf.