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ernie · 06-13-2017, 02:27 PM

I don't think it's really lack of competition that has caused the game to stagnate. It's lack of sales and, therefore, lack of budget. Over the Xbox One and PS4 platform they sold 1 million units of NHL 17. That's dwarfed by FIFA and Madden.

On VGCharts if I list the EASports history they've sold about 450 million games(on what's tracked). NHL series account for 5% of those sales. Top year for the game (NHL 2002) they sold a mere 1.6 mil copies across all platforms. It's not a growing market.

It's likely really only worth it for EA to continue the franchise if they completely minimize costs. If they decide to invest major money it is likely going to be into something they believe will grow in sales (or a new market area) rather than a game that is going to sell 800k-1.2 mil no matter what they do. They can make the worst game ever and sell a million copies. They could also make the best game the world has ever seen for hockey and sell a million copies.

06-13-2017, 02:27 PM	#419
ernie Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Exp:	I don't think it's really lack of competition that has caused the game to stagnate. It's lack of sales and, therefore, lack of budget. Over the Xbox One and PS4 platform they sold 1 million units of NHL 17. That's dwarfed by FIFA and Madden. On VGCharts if I list the EASports history they've sold about 450 million games(on what's tracked). NHL series account for 5% of those sales. Top year for the game (NHL 2002) they sold a mere 1.6 mil copies across all platforms. It's not a growing market. It's likely really only worth it for EA to continue the franchise if they completely minimize costs. If they decide to invest major money it is likely going to be into something they believe will grow in sales (or a new market area) rather than a game that is going to sell 800k-1.2 mil no matter what they do. They can make the worst game ever and sell a million copies. They could also make the best game the world has ever seen for hockey and sell a million copies. Last edited by ernie; 06-13-2017 at 02:29 PM.