NHL GameChangers Event Recap: "You Should Be Excited"

[jkra0512]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I have always wondered this. Why is everything always a secret amongst game developers, most notably EA? What is the big secret and why can't they tell us their visions for the game? Wouldn't that just get more interest in the game and therefore create more sales? And if they keep secrets because they don't want to make promises that they might have to break, well I think that's a little better than continuously underwhelming with their finished products.

You basically answered your own question, and correctly IMO. I would add they don't make these promises because of expectations. Think about it, if they can temper expectations from its fanbase, then incremental improvements can be touted as monumental features.

Plus, it's a business move and one SCEA and their Show series is beginning to see, which is product fatigue. If you give your customer base everything they want in one iteration, then you need to spend money on innovation (e.g. defenseman playing sound defense), which costs much more than making small changes and touting them as game changers (e.g. new card packs for HUT!).

Unfortunately for us the hardcore fans, HUT is where it's at. EA is a business, and while it's tough for us to swallow the fact that they spend so much time & resources on HUT, that's their cash cow and they'd be foolish not to take advantage of that. That said, NHL 15 is the future of how EA will treat their hardcore fans, and I'm sure most of you have already seen that coming.

You hear it all the time, if you don't like the product anymore, don't support it. If EA is to change anything, it'll come from people not frequenting the message boards, people not hyping up the game for them, and people ultimately not buying the game. EA only sees one thing, money, and each and every year the same people are buying the same game and have the same complaints...but the one common factor is EA still gets its money. If you do buy the game, don't do it day-one, don't use HUT, and buy used or at an extremely discounted price!

Finally, in regards to this specific event, it's an EA-sponsored event, who the heck is going to come out of there and say, "Man, they've done NOTHING with this game, you should just turn away"? C'mon...

[FBeaule04]

Completely agree with BigWill on that one. Couldn't have said it better myself to be honest.

The NHL series to me is like the actual Oilers. Run by people who doesn't seem to know what they are doing, too much passengers that don't care, huge holes on defence, no goalies and over and over again, telling you that it's going to be better next year.

Like the Oilers, I'm only going to say that no matter how hard you're telling us it's going to be something next year, I'll believe when I see it!

[Simple Mathematics]

Quote: Originally Posted by jkra0512

You basically answered your own question, and correctly IMO. I would add they don't make these promises because of expectations. Think about it, if they can temper expectations from its fanbase, then incremental improvements can be touted as monumental features. Plus, it's a business move and one SCEA and their Show series is beginning to see, which is product fatigue. If you give your customer base everything they want in one iteration, then you need to spend money on innovation (e.g. defenseman playing sound defense), which costs much more than making small changes and touting them as game changers (e.g. new card packs for HUT!). Unfortunately for us the hardcore fans, HUT is where it's at. EA is a business, and while it's tough for us to swallow the fact that they spend so much time & resources on HUT, that's their cash cow and they'd be foolish not to take advantage of that. That said, NHL 15 is the future of how EA will treat their hardcore fans, and I'm sure most of you have already seen that coming. You hear it all the time, if you don't like the product anymore, don't support it. If EA is to change anything, it'll come from people not frequenting the message boards, people not hyping up the game for them, and people ultimately not buying the game. EA only sees one thing, money, and each and every year the same people are buying the same game and have the same complaints...but the one common factor is EA still gets its money. If you do buy the game, don't do it day-one, don't use HUT, and buy used or at an extremely discounted price! Finally, in regards to this specific event, it's an EA-sponsored event, who the heck is going to come out of there and say, "Man, they've done NOTHING with this game, you should just turn away"? C'mon...

The thing that scares me with the NHL series is if enough people dont buy the game to prove a point, there won't be a game the next year because EA would just cancel the franchise. It's NHL, it's not Madden or FIFA. Their NHL franchise seems to be becoming a cheap money-grab. And if it's no longer making money, I can see EA pulling the plug on the NHL franchise very quickly.

[jkra0512]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

The thing that scares me with the NHL series is if enough people dont buy the game to prove a point, there won't be a game the next year because EA would just cancel the franchise. It's NHL, it's not Madden or FIFA. Their NHL franchise seems to be becoming a cheap money-grab. And if it's no longer making money, I can see EA pulling the plug on the NHL franchise very quickly.

That's definitely a possibility. So the question becomes, do you continue to support a subpar product or are you happy enough with the games they release each year? For me, I could definitely move on, just like I did with their NCAA Football product (before EA pulled the plug because of the player licensing cases)...however, I can see that being more difficult for others who have grown more attached to the NHL product than I have.

[MavsUCCB]

If EA had any guts they'd fly BigWill out for a sit down with no NDA required and let him get everything he ever wanted to get off his chest. I'm picturing Frank Costanza on Festivus but I think it would show that these community events aren't just going to be lip service.

[Simple Mathematics]

Quote: Originally Posted by jkra0512

That's definitely a possibility. So the question becomes, do you continue to support a subpar product or are you happy enough with the games they release each year? For me, I could definitely move on, just like I did with their NCAA Football product (before EA pulled the plug because of the player licensing cases)...however, I can see that being more difficult for others who have grown more attached to the NHL product than I have.

Oh I have already been exploring my other options. Franchise Hockey Manager 2 is sounding like it will be much better than last year's version and I can see myself getting very into that product. I have also downloaded the NHL 2004 Rebuilt mod and just started playing that again. I have also looked into downloading the NHL Hitz Pro mod.

Of course I would prefer a brand new EA NHL game to play. But if that's not an option, there are other ways I can get my hockey fix.

[Smirkin Dirk]

I'm not sure bigwill33's post can be improved upon.

But on the sliding scale of utter pessimism -----unbridled optimism, Im slightly more to the right of bigwill33.

Why? Because EA might not listen to hardcore fans, but they'll have seen the sales figures. And the average amount of play sessions players elected to play. And they would not have been positive.

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by MavsUCCB

If EA had any guts they'd fly BigWill out for a sit down with no NDA required and let him get everything he ever wanted to get off his chest. I'm picturing Frank Costanza on Festivus but I think it would show that these community events aren't just going to be lip service.

Haha thanks. But truth be told, EA doesn't need to fly me out to know how I feel. They just need to read posts like these http://www.operationsports.com/forum...n-systems.html and truly take them to heart.

I probably have a more profound understanding of how the game industry works and how hard it really is to implement things into the game. That I did get from being a community leader some time ago. And I appreciate that and use that knowledge often, especially to try and inform others at a place like OS. The program can be a good thing to have and many companies, including EA Vancouver, has/does take the things that those members say to heart. It just seems that in recent years some of them also use it to try and get the hype machine rolling in the fan forums because they realized that we do a better job of touting or downplaying the game. Word of mouth is huge in this industry, the declining numbers of sales for NHL speaks to that.

If the current NHL staff at EA Vancouver would ever want to get in touch with me, pick my brain or anything, I am always open and willing. I come off brash in my criticism, but I am easy to work with and get along with in a personal setting. I just call things for how I see them because there is no point in wasting time. We (EA and I) had a pretty good relationship in the past, but that faded as their NHL staff turned over.

Overall, I just want to see my favorite sport represented well in a video game again. It doesn't have to be me that flies 3000+ miles away to have that happen. I trust plenty of others to help in the same manner. The only thing that I would ask of anyone else that is in discussion with EA is to relay my findings and suggestions. And then let me know that this happened and what is going to be done in moving forward.