Mike Inglehart and Chris Haluke

Question

They've been behind the wheel for 3 seasons now. They sat down for an interview 2 years ago.. https://x.com/EASPORTSNHL/status/1690015344847355905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1690015344847355905%7Ctwgr%5E65931391f104485296217d7af834ce85564ced0a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthehockeynews.com%2Fgaming%2Flatest-news%2Fea-sports-nhl-is-trending-in-the-right-direction

They spoke about multi year projects. Their first title 24 was not gonna have much because they needed time.. 23 didnt get many updates and they cut out the full presentation because they were hard at work for 24 and beyond.

24 they gave us a pressure system and fatigue system that was met with mixed reviews at best.

25 released and skill based 1T.. again at best mixed reviews..

26 so far.. looks like even less. Unless this BAP update is really big, where are these multi year projects? Where is the gm connected they spoke about?

I get that their budget is smaller, I get they only have 12 months to make this game (and let's be honest, they have 12 months. I get the game ships at a specific date and updates need to be made and stuff but if they have multi year projects they can be working in those through any development cycle time.) Other games are pushing games out with more updates in similar times, so is it JUST budget? How much does this game make/ need to make or how many years does it take to equal what 2k gets in 1 year that we can see the same developmental leap that that game gets vs this one? 5 years? 10 years? 20? We're stealing some things from other EA titles like fans and the physics engine. I mean where do we set the bar for what we should expect from year to year? What is fair? I'm trying to be fair but this is a bad look, right? Every 5 years each mode gets a new look. It's most modes are riddled with issues from year to year and we wait 5 years to see if they get addressed.

When even the people who make a living playing this game, hyping this game, and creating content for this game are having a hard time saying much positive about this.. we're in an extremely uncomfortable place, right?

These developers suggested we would have a discord. They failed to ever open it up.

If they wanted to improve this game.. the first step would be creating open discussion. Open communication about what theyre developing. I wouldn't be hiding anything. If they came out and said "hey, we're sorry we couldn't get GM connected finished this year. This is where we are with it. We didnt want to rush it. It is being worked on." That would do WONDERS. If they spoke about what they are doing or planning with WoC or threw out some polls on what we think that would do wonders. The radio silence, lack of any development, and failed promises are not giving fans any confidence that these guys are the right guys for the job. You can go back to my posts when this interview initially happened and I was extremely happy and hopeful they would change things around.

Where do we go from here? How long is their leash? I just want a hockey game that feels like its made in the same century as NBA 2K as far as features and presentation.

NHL 25 was the first NHL game I didnt pre order since I started buying. All my friends did the same. I bought after it went on sale, half of my friends did the same. I don't see why this year will be any different. I'll be surprised if any of them buy it even after it goes on sale this time around. Seems more and more that's what I see people saying. People are giving up, their time and money isn't being respected or put back into development.

I can't for sure say this is them or EA execs being the main issue but idk where we go from here.. just seems to be a giant disconnect. If I'm producing a game I'd want as much info and feedback as I could get and fix all the main issues people are having. They roll out with the pressure system and got rid of dumping the puck.. that is something that a poll or discord discussion could have stopped.. it was wasted development time in most people's eyes. I'm just confused as to where we are or where we're headed..

victavius7 · Answer

I’m sure the L2 issue will still be around this year, but don’t worry guys, they will start working on it now and have it fixed for NHL 30. The player base doesn’t know what they want, but big Mike does.&nbsp;

rsall14 · Answer

They've run their course, the game isn't in a better place. Reverse hitting, pressure system, flopping goalies, among their other additions have all made the experience worse. They also don't seem to like addressing critical bugs during the year and pawn it off to next years game. Remember the wrap glitch a couple games ago that they left in all year because they wanted to focus on the following years game? How about broken line changes this year with zero attempts at a fix?

rsandersr47 · Answer

I think when the game initially releases the discord would be really toxic, after that I think it would become constructive. Skull and bones was one of the most hated games when released (in recent memory) the opened a discord and it was filled with a lot of upset people.. after a couple months it became really constructive. The devs had open communication. Every few months they had open Q&A and spoke about their vision for the future. Every time there was a new update it seemed like a lot of issues were addressed. It's still not the game many expected but it's hard to be upset with the devs as they've spoke about what theyre doing and have kept open communication. No man's sky also seemed to have lots of updates and open communication (though I'm not as familiar) look at how active and attentive the college football dev team seems to be. Look at their latest patch and how much it added. We couldn't even get the NHL team to add a match room size or patch the L2 glitch for an ENTIRE year. Then they ask us to pre order this one w/o knowing if it's fixed or what they've taken away or broke now? Wild.

It just seems like these guys need to stick with Mario strikers or w/e. I think this project is too much for them.

thegarden94 · Answer

I totally agree with you every single word, but you forgot to mention the interference penalties that for years haven't been fixed, and also the the penalty shots that are called also make no sense&nbsp;

klariskraysnhl · Answer

Oh trust me I have asked to have ingame surveys about game modes, mechanics, certain X-Factor thoughts. I wish it does become a thing in the future because the best place to survey people is where people are actually playing the game.

As for the Discord. Let's be 100% honest here. Do you think it would be used for good? My answer is it would just be filled with hate spewing talk. Plus you wouldn't be guaranteed to talk with Devs it would probably just be where they post HUT updates, patches, and leave an area for you to leave feedback which would probably consist of mostly terrible feedback saying "game is bad, fix"

Look after seeing the NHL 26 trailer we all saw today I can 100% understand how many of you are feeling severely let down by what was shown. I'll say it. I'm let down also. I know people want to see info about deep dives, they want to see what changes were tweaked/made, they want to see actual gameplay that isn't dolled up with fancy shots to make it look extra pretty.

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Mike Inglehart and Chris Haluke

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