A New NHL Series game.

[SeattleBattleCat]

Without me knocking on this game too much because I do enjoy it, if there was another game out there that was playable and even better quality, but didn't have any NHL rights to it, yes I would absolutely buy it. I would bet, that if such a game became a global seller, it wouldn't be too long before the NHL rights were offered to it.
But that seems to be a stretch of the imagination at this point.

[thedudedominick]

After looking at sales figures, it's clear why we wont see an amazing NHL game or hockey game.

The highest selling year for hockey video games in general was the NHL 10/ NHL 2k10 games. Sold a little over 2 million total copies across all platforms.

Lets compare that to EA Sports biggest games FIFA and Madden.

Just for 18, Madden has sold about 3 million copies. Madden 17 about 6 million copies.

FIFA 18 has sold 11 million copies, and FIFA 17 sold 16 Million.

There's no reason for any company to pump money into a sport, that even at it's peak, only sold 2 million copies.

This is only copies sold. Can you imagine how much more money they make on ultimate team with that many more people buying the games? Unfortunately video games are big business now and money talks.

FIFA sells about as much in a year as NHL does over 7 or 8 years. There's no reason for EA to put time and resources into a game that wont get them a return. It's just not profitable and we will probably never see another company willing to risk it.

Only 2 NHL games have individually broken 1 MIL copies sold. NHL 99 on PS1 and NHL 2002 on PS2.

[Northernwolf]

An alternative to what EA is making would be nice.

I dont know if EA has the sole license for NHL ATM. I belive that it is non exclusive? Maybe im wrong.

Anyways.. an alternative would be welcome.

Im not even in the typical NHL market (European, not in a country that has ever been very good in hockey).

An alternative that has more options could compete with EAs product at this point. Also if this Alternative was made with a focus on being available on platforms like Switch you could reach different market parts perhaps?

[Northernwolf]

@thedudedominick

Thanks for sharing. Sales and market wise I think NHL could do far better. But I think the issue is that you have a bad spiral at NHL development now.

Small sales = small dev team = small product
Than multiply this by each year and you will just go in minus.

I think it would be beneficial for the EA NHL series to start becoming a bi-annual game. A longer dev cycle and bigger changes in the game = better possibility for sales.

If the market is oversaturated - you need to start look for ways to meeting the market - or find new ones.

[Bucketman]

Soccer is a global sport that is easy for anyone to try, no equipment or ice needed, just the ball. No sport will ever catch that, but hockey has a large following in Scandinavia, eastern Europe and north America. I'd like to believe that there would be buyers for another game. EA:s exclusivity for the NFL and NHL? has done nothing but bad for the market and the games could be so much better with some competition.

[lions67]

Sales for NHL sucks because the game sucks.
Year after year of the same thing yet somehow managing to get worse as it goes along is the MAIN reason why sales suck.
Like someone said, we don’t even need the licence , just make a solid game and people will follow .
I would suggest looking at HB Studios and their golf game vs EA’s golf game. The Golf Club2 is superior to that Rory disaster and people are starting to take notice.
I don’t see why it can’t happen for NHL.
I would love if SAN Diego Studios would take a crack at making the game.

[CDN_MTN_BEAR]

Quote: Originally Posted by lions67

Sales for NHL sucks because the game sucks. Year after year of the same thing yet somehow managing to get worse as it goes along is the MAIN reason why sales suck. Like someone said, we don’t even need the licence , just make a solid game and people will follow.

This is 100% spot on, mate. And if anyone has played NHL '20, well, the term "sucks" is a drastic understatement.

As a veteran of this series, since NHLPA Hockey' 93, on SNES, I am absolutely appalled at how this game is on the current generation of consoles. It's lazy, with gimmicky and useless crap, the gameplay is the worst that I've ever seen it, and it's a mockery of the great sport and game of hockey.

Bottom line, the automation garbage has to go, as it's taking a considerable amount of fun and enjoyment away the gamer.

[Drop_ya_mitts]

Quote: Originally Posted by Northernwolf

An alternative to what EA is making would be nice. I dont know if EA has the sole license for NHL ATM. I belive that it is non exclusive? Maybe im wrong. Anyways.. an alternative would be welcome. Im not even in the typical NHL market (European, not in a country that has ever been very good in hockey). An alternative that has more options could compete with EAs product at this point. Also if this Alternative was made with a focus on being available on platforms like Switch you could reach different market parts perhaps?

I'm only speaking for me here but I still play NHL2K10 on PS3. I sometimes jump on CHEL (PS4) but for anything offline it's 2K10 all the way. With slider adjustments you can get a really nice simulation game from it