Would be interesting to see player counts compared to actual (moreso digital) sales.
I've never tiptoed across the fact I digitally share/split my NHL games with friends since we don't see much value in the game
I’m sure sales are fine, imo, they wouldn’t release these games (Madden, NHL) in their current states if they knew they couldn’t. Madden 21 is objectively one of the worst AA titles ever seen yet it’s the highest selling madden ever. I’m sure NHL is limping along at around the same clip it has the last few years, then you make the streamers feel important with a GC tag, they spend thousands and thousands in HUT pucks to make content and because their followers literally give them money to do that, and you have a never-ending cycle of money being pumped back into the game.
This year will really be an eye-opener for me. Can the sliders stay consistent game to game? Can my AI teammates run a 1-4 properly? Can they pinch/attack when set to full attack, full forecheck, and have the goalie pulled? Can they help dig the puck out in a scrum? Because apparently the AI were somewhat addressed this year. If I can’t see basic improvements like that, ones we’ve been asking for since 15, then I will lose most, if not all, hope I had in ever seeing any significant improvements for people who genuinely want to enjoy the sport the game claims to be a representation of.
The game changers program has proven to be nothing it an echo-chamber of LG/comp players who have a laughably low amount of combined real hockey experience, they care nothing about the offline experience of the game, they consistently micro-change the meta, afraid to demand any significant meta changes, then cry about the meta year after year. Took them 5 years to explain “we don’t want a speed increase, we just want to be rewarded for catching defenders flat-footed” lol. I mean, come on. They can’t even articulate their needs for their artistic expression of this sport, yet they’re the voices for the entire community? What do we have, one offline guy there now? One goalie guy who doesn’t know anything about goaltending outside of the EASHL?
Looks about time to pack up, move on, and maybe revisit in 5-6 years if we can’t get the smallest of fundamental AI changes implemented. Full attack + full forecheck /= 5-man retreat into the NZ because we didn’t have the puck for .5 seconds in the offensive zone.
I’m sure sales are fine, imo, they wouldn’t release these games (Madden, NHL) in their current states if they knew they couldn’t. Madden 21 is objectively one of the worst AA titles ever seen yet it’s the highest selling madden ever. I’m sure NHL is limping along at around the same clip it has the last few years, then you make the streamers feel important with a GC tag, they spend thousands and thousands in HUT pucks to make content and because their followers literally give them money to do that, and you have a never-ending cycle of money being pumped back into the game.
This year will really be an eye-opener for me. Can the sliders stay consistent game to game? Can my AI teammates run a 1-4 properly? Can they pinch/attack when set to full attack, full forecheck, and have the goalie pulled? Can they help dig the puck out in a scrum? Because apparently the AI were somewhat addressed this year. If I can’t see basic improvements like that, ones we’ve been asking for since 15, then I will lose most, if not all, hope I had in ever seeing any significant improvements for people who genuinely want to enjoy the sport the game claims to be a representation of.
The game changers program has proven to be nothing it an echo-chamber of LG/comp players who have a laughably low amount of combined real hockey experience, they care nothing about the offline experience of the game, they consistently micro-change the meta, afraid to demand any significant meta changes, then cry about the meta year after year. Took them 5 years to explain “we don’t want a speed increase, we just want to be rewarded for catching defenders flat-footed” lol. I mean, come on. They can’t even articulate their needs for their artistic expression of this sport, yet they’re the voices for the entire community? What do we have, one offline guy there now? One goalie guy who doesn’t know anything about goaltending outside of the EASHL?
Looks about time to pack up, move on, and maybe revisit in 5-6 years if we can’t get the smallest of fundamental AI changes implemented. Full attack + full forecheck /= 5-man retreat into the NZ because we didn’t have the puck for .5 seconds in the offensive zone.
I honestly believe their engine has reached its limits and if we want real a.i. improvements were out of luck til ea takes some of those hut money bags and updates the engine.
Maybe they should pull a Red Dead Redemption 2, read a team of approximately 1,600 people developed Red Dead Redemption 2 over several years.
And quite a game...
Compare to EA hockey's team.. Does anyone know how big thoose team are, Madden, Fifa and NHL?
Their team is small. We know that. My issue then is if youre not putting the resources in to justify 60 bucks a year, you have zero business putting that price tag on it.
Maybe they should pull a Red Dead Redemption 2, read a team of approximately 1,600 people developed Red Dead Redemption 2 over several years.
And quite a game...
Compare to EA hockey's team.. Does anyone know how big thoose team are, Madden, Fifa and NHL?
We do know that a few years back, the EA NHL team was 250 people strong. Not a "small" team by any definition, but not a huge team like the RDR2 team.
I'd imagine the Madden and FIFA teams are marginally larger than that of the NHL team.
You can forget about them extending their sports game's development period to 2 years or more like any self respecting AAA game developer. They'll use the "short devleopment" period as an excuse as to why there is so little improvements every year, but it doesn't stop them from charging AAA game prices.
I’m sure sales are fine, imo, they wouldn’t release these games (Madden, NHL) in their current states if they knew they couldn’t. Madden 21 is objectively one of the worst AA titles ever seen yet it’s the highest selling madden ever. I’m sure NHL is limping along at around the same clip it has the last few years, then you make the streamers feel important with a GC tag, they spend thousands and thousands in HUT pucks to make content and because their followers literally give them money to do that, and you have a never-ending cycle of money being pumped back into the game.
This year will really be an eye-opener for me. Can the sliders stay consistent game to game? Can my AI teammates run a 1-4 properly? Can they pinch/attack when set to full attack, full forecheck, and have the goalie pulled? Can they help dig the puck out in a scrum? Because apparently the AI were somewhat addressed this year. If I can’t see basic improvements like that, ones we’ve been asking for since 15, then I will lose most, if not all, hope I had in ever seeing any significant improvements for people who genuinely want to enjoy the sport the game claims to be a representation of.
The game changers program has proven to be nothing it an echo-chamber of LG/comp players who have a laughably low amount of combined real hockey experience, they care nothing about the offline experience of the game, they consistently micro-change the meta, afraid to demand any significant meta changes, then cry about the meta year after year. Took them 5 years to explain “we don’t want a speed increase, we just want to be rewarded for catching defenders flat-footed” lol. I mean, come on. They can’t even articulate their needs for their artistic expression of this sport, yet they’re the voices for the entire community? What do we have, one offline guy there now? One goalie guy who doesn’t know anything about goaltending outside of the EASHL?
Looks about time to pack up, move on, and maybe revisit in 5-6 years if we can’t get the smallest of fundamental AI changes implemented. Full attack + full forecheck /= 5-man retreat into the NZ because we didn’t have the puck for .5 seconds in the offensive zone.
I honestly believe their engine has reached its limits and if we want real a.i. improvements were out of luck til ea takes some of those hut money bags and updates the engine.
Yeah, you could be right. It’s actually eye-opening if that’s the case because they are so amazingly poor at reading almost every scenario + they won’t even fail or get beat when you specifically ask them to be over-aggressive. They literally define “full attack” as players will only be thinking about offense, yet I could put an infinite loop of 4-5 AI teammates rushing into the NZ to setup the trap with under a minute to go because we didn’t immediately regain possession of the puck in the offensive zone. Full forecheck, full attack, yet we have a 1-4 trap being executed...it’s just exhausting every time I see it yet I see it all of the time. I love the creation suite, I love running my own league/world offline, but this game makes me question why I turn it on almost every night I play. Simple stuff like that is more frustrating than anything else imo.
That’d be like calling a jailbreak blitz on the goaline in madden because you believe they’re running and are will to get beat by a pass to try and stop the run, and instead your CPU teammates decide they’re going to drop 8 on the snap and allow the other team to easily walk into the end zone. Madden has its issues but I think the players do adhere to the strategies/plays when the game is actually functioning. Just asking for the same in NHL.
Replies
I've never tiptoed across the fact I digitally share/split my NHL games with friends since we don't see much value in the game
This year will really be an eye-opener for me. Can the sliders stay consistent game to game? Can my AI teammates run a 1-4 properly? Can they pinch/attack when set to full attack, full forecheck, and have the goalie pulled? Can they help dig the puck out in a scrum? Because apparently the AI were somewhat addressed this year. If I can’t see basic improvements like that, ones we’ve been asking for since 15, then I will lose most, if not all, hope I had in ever seeing any significant improvements for people who genuinely want to enjoy the sport the game claims to be a representation of.
The game changers program has proven to be nothing it an echo-chamber of LG/comp players who have a laughably low amount of combined real hockey experience, they care nothing about the offline experience of the game, they consistently micro-change the meta, afraid to demand any significant meta changes, then cry about the meta year after year. Took them 5 years to explain “we don’t want a speed increase, we just want to be rewarded for catching defenders flat-footed” lol. I mean, come on. They can’t even articulate their needs for their artistic expression of this sport, yet they’re the voices for the entire community? What do we have, one offline guy there now? One goalie guy who doesn’t know anything about goaltending outside of the EASHL?
Looks about time to pack up, move on, and maybe revisit in 5-6 years if we can’t get the smallest of fundamental AI changes implemented. Full attack + full forecheck /= 5-man retreat into the NZ because we didn’t have the puck for .5 seconds in the offensive zone.
I honestly believe their engine has reached its limits and if we want real a.i. improvements were out of luck til ea takes some of those hut money bags and updates the engine.
And quite a game...
Compare to EA hockey's team.. Does anyone know how big thoose team are, Madden, Fifa and NHL?
Their team is small. We know that. My issue then is if youre not putting the resources in to justify 60 bucks a year, you have zero business putting that price tag on it.
We do know that a few years back, the EA NHL team was 250 people strong. Not a "small" team by any definition, but not a huge team like the RDR2 team.
I'd imagine the Madden and FIFA teams are marginally larger than that of the NHL team.
You can forget about them extending their sports game's development period to 2 years or more like any self respecting AAA game developer. They'll use the "short devleopment" period as an excuse as to why there is so little improvements every year, but it doesn't stop them from charging AAA game prices.
Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching! That's all that matters.
But yeah, money makes the world go round.. chasing paper, sad world, I rather stand on a ice pond and sauce pass with a buddy... 🤓
Yeah, you could be right. It’s actually eye-opening if that’s the case because they are so amazingly poor at reading almost every scenario + they won’t even fail or get beat when you specifically ask them to be over-aggressive. They literally define “full attack” as players will only be thinking about offense, yet I could put an infinite loop of 4-5 AI teammates rushing into the NZ to setup the trap with under a minute to go because we didn’t immediately regain possession of the puck in the offensive zone. Full forecheck, full attack, yet we have a 1-4 trap being executed...it’s just exhausting every time I see it yet I see it all of the time. I love the creation suite, I love running my own league/world offline, but this game makes me question why I turn it on almost every night I play. Simple stuff like that is more frustrating than anything else imo.
That’d be like calling a jailbreak blitz on the goaline in madden because you believe they’re running and are will to get beat by a pass to try and stop the run, and instead your CPU teammates decide they’re going to drop 8 on the snap and allow the other team to easily walk into the end zone. Madden has its issues but I think the players do adhere to the strategies/plays when the game is actually functioning. Just asking for the same in NHL.