KidShowtime1867 yes, I used ChatGPT to help organize my thoughts, but everything in that post came from me. It just made it easier to get it all written out, plus it reminded me of a couple features fans have been asking for that I might’ve missed.
The point I was making is that “making the best game possible” might be every developer’s goal, but it’s not EA’s business model. The devs could add all the stuff we want if they had the time and budget, but EA purposely holds features back and rolls them out slowly so we keep buying every year. That’s why nothing really changes, even when fans threaten boycotts.
The best sports games ever made happened because of dedicated human devs with the freedom to go all-in. That’s never going to happen here unless EA has a reason to change. The only way I see that happening is if the business model changes so EA actually makes more money giving us everything at once—otherwise, why would they? If they made the perfect NHL game today, half the player base could skip buying next year.
That’s where the yearly subscription idea comes in, it guarantees them the same (or more) revenue while letting the dev team keep improving the same game all year instead of drip-feeding us just enough to sell the next one.
Community ManagerThe point I was making is that “making the best game possible” might be every developer’s goal, but it’s not EA’s business model. The devs could add all the stuff we want if they had the time and budget, but EA purposely holds features back and rolls them out slowly so we keep buying every year. That’s why nothing really changes, even when fans threaten boycotts.
This really isn't true. We don't purposely hold back features. Everything has to be built, tested and balanced. This takes a tremendous amount of time. We don't have a bunch of stuff done already that we're just waiting to add. Even with a yearly subscription model, you'd probably see the same rate at which new features are added.
EA_Aljo it's not just a feeling; it’s a fact that many simple, in-depth features this franchise had over a decade ago are completely missing now, despite years of fans asking for them back. If the team truly has passionate developers (which I believe you do), then why haven’t these features returned? Even with next gen processors, this isn’t only about time; it’s about where the time is being allocated, and that’s why so many fans are upset. Across the EA community, there’s a strong belief that most focus goes to HUT because it brings in more money, and I can understand that. But omitting very important features feels either lazy or by design. What’s harder to understand is why so much depth has been taken out of modes like Be a Pro, Franchise, and Presentation that were done realistically a decade ago. From the outside, it looks like a strategic business decision or the result of priorities being shifted elsewhere. I understand that if you gave us everything we wanted at once, there’s a risk people wouldn’t feel the need to buy the game every single year, but that’s exactly why I keep coming back to the idea of a new business model that works for both EA and the fans.
Community ManagerOld features don't always work as the game moves to new platforms and technology. Only so much can be done in a year. Nobody is being lazy here. This is an unfortunate accusation considering how hard they work. You also have to consider not everyone has the same priorities. So, calling our developers lazy because they aren't handling someone's favorite part of the game, but are working on something they aren't interested in, really isn't fair. For example, presentation is a big deal to many of you, but not to others. Just like the people most interested in gameplay probably aren't going to care as much about players walking out the tunnel and such. We just have to be careful about what gets worked on year to year. Unfortunately, it means some are going to be disappointed because what they wanted got little or no attention.
Let's also not forget this year the game is coming out a month earlier meaning 1 less month of time to work on things.
Community Manager
