NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

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Re: NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

New copies of NHL 15 have been priced at $30-$35 since Black Friday.

Buying one of the Ultimate Team promo packs that they put up two to three times per week will typically cost $20-$30.

So it's easy to see why HUT is the only mode that EA has put continued support into this year.

I know about how the price of the game drops drastically during that time. That happens with every game though as long as it has been out for a couple of months. I was more intending about release price. I just think release prices would be much higher if people knew the game was going to be good.

That's crazy on the HUT cards though. I cannot even imagine paying that amount of money for a pack of cards just to try and have a good record at a video game. To each his own though. We all have stuff we buy that is useless to another person. I could justify most things but paying for HUT is one thing I don't think I could. I'd almost feel like I was cheating at the game.

[capnbuh]

Re: NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

This to a T. All that needs to be looked at is the past sales numbers. This game was so much fun to play in all game modes back in NHL 09-11. What a coincidence to, HUT didn't even exist at that time and the sales numbers were the best they've ever been. Then the luster of all those game modes and gameplay (controls, graphics, etc) started to go away because it wasn't improved in areas that needed improving. The game was fun, but it still had a ton of issues that needed to be addressed. That fun and solid gameplay (for that time) was good enough to make us not think about the glaring problems. It was honestly like the dev team sat and said, well we have our sales numbers so now we can stop improving the big issues and people will keep buying it. It's killed sales of the actual game. I still think about how good this game really could have been had they actually fixed the really bad areas of this game, when the game was actually good.

At the end of the day though, this game had great sales numbers when HUT didn't even exist. All this game needs is great offline gameplay, BeAGM, Playoff Mode, a continuously improved EASHL, regular online and finally a great roster/player editor and this game would be a hit. People don't need HUT to enjoy this game if the other parts are solid. They can go ahead and leave it in but don't waste time every year trying to enhance it. I'm not sure how much they make off HUT purchases, but I would think they could make as much or more money selling more copies then from the extra sales they receive from HUT. Obviously I don't have the numbers on what people actually spend for HUT, but I would think most people don't spend more than $60, which is the price of a game. I guess I really don't know though since I have no interest in the mode. I think it's ridiculous anyway because when I've tried playing the mode I didn't need "Gold Premium" or whatever vintage Oilers Gretzky to win games. This isn't bragging but more of a shot at NHL, but I could win with junior and NHL scrubs against teams with top players because every player has the same skills except for speed. When you don't have speed you make due by out-thinking the other player.

Keep in mind that a much higher % of the money from HUT microtransactions go directly to EA.

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

If only 2k had anticipated EA dropping a stinker. Would've been a good year for 2k hockey

Who knows. They might quietly be weighing their options. Maybe they'll throw a small team together to work on a proof-of-concept type thing, show they can develop an engine that can accurately represent hockey, then see how things look to be shaping up with EA's release.

EA is currently the king of the sports-game mountain in almost every genre, but in a lot, that balance is pretty weak. A solid NHL game that allows players to customize the game, from rosters, player looks, and gameplay being realistic or more arcade and fun could easily steal away a ton of customers. I would gladly jump ship on EA tomorrow if 2K could release something that even looked like it was almost as good as NHL14, just to show EA that they need to pay better attention to their fan base, and not just their bank account.

[Culture Rot]

So upsetting. Another once franchise in ruins. No competition either. Sounds like a familiar scenario. Please god dont let Fifa be next.

[fillydilly]

Re: NHL 15 Leaves Fans Disappointed Again with Overhyped 'New Era' Announcement

The only way to stop shovelware is to boycott future releases. But then EA still got that teenage age-group whom will buy anything that has their favourite star slapped on the cover.