EA's Community Presence

[nddurst]

It's amazing how different the experience can be from game to game.

I'm new to MLB: The Show this year, and I am completely blown away by SCEA's development team and their involvement and connection with the community over at the The Show forums here on OS.

Never has the lack of involvement of EA's development team been so glaring to me as it has these past few weeks, with The Show 15's recent launch. SCEA 'gets it'. There is a rep from the development team over there who posts almost daily in the forums, asking for feedback and answering questions. He asks the forum members for help in identifying/fixing bugs, roster creation, and more. It's obvious there is a healthy, flourishing relationship between the people who make The Show and the game's fan base.

Then you enter NHL forums here and over at EA and you hear basically NOTHING from the development team, unless it is HUT related (which speaks volumes to me about what EA thinks is important for this game). No asking for feedback. No answers to questions or concerns.

Such contrasting experiences. It's sad and disappointing. I wish SCEA would make an NHL game.

EDIT: I understand that it's probably unfair to judge the engagement of the developers at a time where The Show is launching, and NHL 16 is still five months away. But I don't recall ever being blown away by EA's community presence. I get a completely different feeling in The Show forums, that I've never gotten at the NHL forums.

[actionhank]

I don't think it's an unfair way to judge it. It's up to them to sell the product to us. I think EA got complacent in the fact that the NHL title for the most part solid itself, like i think a lot of sports titles do.

I don't want to sound like it's some conspiracy, but EA was downright secretive with how they handled the release of NHL15. It's almost like they knew that they hadn't improved much, and outside of the graphics and commentary, hadn't done a tone to change anything. There was hardly anything compared to how The Show's team handled things. The Show team had multiple live streams, often multiple hours long each time, just showing off the game. They showed live gameplay, they showed all of the little details they were so proud of. They talked about things they added, and even noted things they wanted, but just couldn't get in, from time to time.

By contrast, EA gave us a few (there may have actually been more live streams of The Show with the development team than there were 'sizzle trailers' from EA) short videos of the gameplay, where they briefly noted some changes, but they felt so canned, and so scripted.

There was little to no interaction from anyone actually at EA. I don't think I've seen a developer post here (Not sure what Redshirt does, but i believe i remember seeing that he was a community communicator, not so much involved in the actual development of the game). SCEA by comparison has guys who actually code and develop in the game posting about why some things are the way they are, and talking about things on their list for next release. The game isn't even 1 month out of the game, and already they have their guys talking about features they can't wait to add.

And none of that would be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that the base gameplay in the NHL series has failed to really give players the ability to tun the game to their liking. Guys wanting a simulation type game are stuck trying to compromise and spend months fine tuning sliders that hardly work, all in the hopes of getting numbers that represent real hockey, while the on screen product, from hits to goals, still borders heavily on the arcade game.

Guys with the show seem to have the opposite problem. They have a game that leans more towards realistic, with the ability to tune it up to get even more accurate stats and gameplay, or down, to give a more arcade friendly experience.

Long post short: EA could learn a ton from The Show team, from how to handle your community (keep in mind, they post as heavily as they do on a forum that isn't even their official forum), to the way to take criticism and feedback and adapt it into your game. The Show feels focused on providing the best gameplay, and letting the user fine tune it as they see fit (I still regularly play MLB The Show 13, and I don't like baseball half as much as I like hockey). EA's NHL series seems to have taken a sharp turn towards milking the HUT cash cow, and I don't think it's any surprise that many people have become increasingly displeased with the series, the more the focus has shifted from offline gameplay, to HUT.

Just my two cents.

[canucksss]

I think you are unfair in comparing SCEA with EA. You cannot compare EA from SCEA. SCEA are more serious than EA in putting their game. SCEA listens to their fans but EA is telling people to like their product the way they see it. SCEA can receive constructive criticisms but EA are so sensitive and always like to praise their sorry effort in NHL. So basically, they are not on the same level.

Seriously though, how I wish EA is like SCEA the way they put effort in their game. The Year-to-Year save feature both in Franchise and RTTS is an excellent idea. How come EA never thought about it, or even 2K for that matter. MLB 2k14, the first one in PS4 was a great product...compare with NHL 15, with a year absence, was a lousy product and they took out features that were supposed to be there. Mind you, EA kept it from the consumers until the last few days before it releases.

Although I am an avid fan of NHL and a hockey video enthusiast, I havent played the game since 2013. And I am glad I did not waste my money when 14 and 15 first release in the market.

[nddurst]

Quote: Originally Posted by canucksss

I think you are unfair in comparing SCEA with EA. You cannot compare EA from SCEA. SCEA are more serious than EA in putting their game. SCEA listens to their fans but EA is telling people to like their product the way they see it. SCEA can receive constructive criticisms but EA are so sensitive and always like to praise their sorry effort in NHL. So basically, they are not on the same level. Seriously though, how I wish EA is like SCEA the way they put effort in their game. The Year-to-Year save feature both in Franchise and RTTS is an excellent idea. How come EA never thought about it, or even 2K for that matter. MLB 2k14, the first one in PS4 was a great product...compare with NHL 15, with a year absence, was a lousy product and they took out features that were supposed to be there. Mind you, EA kept it from the consumers until the last few days before it releases. Although I am an avid fan of NHL and a hockey video enthusiast, I havent played the game since 2013. And I am glad I did not waste my money when 14 and 15 first release in the market.

It's clear SCEA and EA have vastly different missions, and their cultures differ in a way that directly affects the customer experience. I'm certain that the issues with EA Sports start at the top and I suspect it has something to do with having a higher emphasis on turning profits than on making quality games that accurately represent the sports they're made for.

If I had to guess, I would think that the developers themselves aren't in the driver's seat when it comes to this type of stuff. This has high-level corporate indifference written all over it.

[Simple Mathematics]

I wish that any other company would make an NHL game.

[Vikes1]

This thread makes me wish i liked baseball enough to want to buy, The show.

[Pezell04x]

To be fair, the guys who post in the The Show forums are actually nice to the SCEA devs. Madden and NHL forums have shredded EA devs for years, even when they did come here. Why would they bother showing up just to get reamed out?

I'm not saying it is right - at all. I think they should come to OS because I think this forum is a breathing ground for good ideas to make the game better from top to bottom (roster management and ratings calculations [looking at you Revamped team], gameplay, modes, on and off ice AI).

It definitely doesn't help EA's case that they have stupid things like Q&As and then take back of the box softball questions like they did with NHL 15.

I am, in no way, defending EA and their dev team. I think they've done a subpar job for awhile. I am just saying that I get why they don't check in here to say hello.

[bigwill33]

And to be fair when they did come here (recently) all they did was pretty much lie to us and treat us like children.

The reason why people treat the The Show developers so kindly is because: A). the show developers treat their customers and followers with respect B). are uniquely honest and transparent C). listen to the feedback, answer questions directly, and take this forums requests and implements them into the actual game within a year's time D). makes a product that is fully featured and actually works in most instances, all while providing a dynamic gaming experience for both sim-gamers as well as the casual fan.

I can't argue that EA developers get it pretty hard from the forums, but it can be argued that a lot of that is a result of their own doings. Including making such a subpar and inferior product. And OS is nothing compared to EA's forums. But I still think everyone could agree to "play nice and get along" in the best intentions of having the best game, but things need to change on both sides and the first step probably needs to come from EA in the form of making a worthwhile game.