[Rant] In which Dope has very simple business concepts explained to him

This rant is so long I don't expect anyone to read it. The loooooooooong and short of it is EA Sports is either too lazy, too worried about piracy, or too worried about not making money to release an updated version of NHL 09 for the PC. I need to figure out how to break it up for more ready consumption, but here it is.

Spoiler:

On October 21, 2008, Electronic Arts' sports division will unleash upon salivating PC gamers its most recent installment of NHL 09 for $49.99 MSRP. "Winner of 7 Sports Game of the Year Awards," the NHL series as brought to us by EA Sports has, over the last 17 years, has been one of the best reviewed franchises in video game history, as well as one of the most beloved. However, not is all as cheery or as optimistic as EA would make it out to be. For the past 2 years, PC gamers have found themselves in unfamiliar territory: having their favored version of NHL 07 or NHL 08 be, in many ways, an inferior version to those on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles. I, and many like myself, are crying foul; some of us privately, some of us on whatever medium we can, such as EA's official "NHL PC" boards. The uproar has gone unaddressed by Electronic Arts since the complaining began shortly after NHL 07 was unveiled and the truth of the matter became that we PC gamers were about to be left in the dust for no apparent reason. Here I am going to personally investigate the matter as best I can, because I for one would prefer that the facts be made apparent and public.

First, I'm going to address the main question at hand: why doesn't Electronic Arts update the PC version of their NHL series to the level the current generation consoles (X360, PS3) is on? Here's my quick list of theories, each of which I'll address:

• Poor PC market
• Piracy
• Laziness

The first two are theories very commonly used by the denizens of EA's NHL PC forums, and the last one is my own. Before I get to them, I want to get into a brief history of the NHL series, as brought to us by EA Sports.

The first three NHL games Electronic Arts published and released (NHL Hockey, NHLPA Hockey '93, and the immortal NHL '94) were and still are considered today to be landmarks in not just the sports gaming world but overall. Many people bought Sega Genesis consoles in the early-90's simply because of at least one of those three games. Yet, on the whole, each game was not entirely different from the other. Yes, there were certain features added that made big impacts on the series and improved them dramatically (from Hockey to '93, NHLPA licensing; from '93 to '94, slap-shots and compiled stats for playoffs), but early on this set a tone that would become all too familiar for those who have followed the ascent of the EA Sports brand. Sure enough, from one game to the next there were a few changes here and there (aside from the obvious roster changes, logo changes, etc.) but nothing the really marked an innovative paradigm shift in the series that would make people stand up and say, "Hey, that's worth buying this game for!" Of course, at the time, the concept of annual releases for games was barely new.

In 1993, however, while NHL '94 was making waves on the console market, Electronic Arts also released NHL Hockey for MS-DOS. While lacking the vaunted one-timer, this began the long tradition of the PC version of EA Sports' titles being the standard to which the other versions would be compared. Though it's unfair to compare the differences between the Genesis version of NHL '94 to the MS-DOS version of NHL Hockey (particularly since the ROM size of NHL 94 for the Genesis is 1 MB and NHL Hockey for DOS was on a CD), here's a sample of the key differences between both games:

• NHL Hockey featured a full, 82-game NHL season, with full stat tracking and league leaders, as well as the ability to export and import rosters and stats. NHL 94 had only the Stanley Cup playoffs, and tracked stats only for your team and your opponents. No support for exporting or importing anything, as it isn't technically possible with the Genesis anyway.
• NHL Hockey featured higher-resolution graphics and textures, as well as more animations, than its console counterpart.
• NHL Hockey had more in-depth intermissions, and you could even save games in the middle of playing.
• NHL Hockey also had the capacity for better sound.

Again, I realize it's an uneven playing field, but it helps secure my point: for 12 more years you could this sort of leaps-and-bounds comparisons between the PC versions of NHL whatever-year and the console versions and say, "There's a big difference between them." Now, and for the last 2 years, the shoe is on the other foot.

So why, all of a sudden, did EA Sports make their abrupt change to give the consoles more respect than the PCs? It is here where I should note that PCs are entirely capable of matching wits or parts with any console on the market, and that there are games out there that are not only PC-exclusive but challenge systems as well. In fact, one of the most recent and most well-known of which is an EA-produced game: Crysis. I wish I was joking, but the fact of the matter is that PCs are far more suitable for the sort of annual release practice that EA Sports indulges in due to their adaptability. But, here we are, NHL 09 is out on the PC in one month and EA has no defense for its actions. It's so difficult to fathom that EA hasn't responded that fans of the NHL series are making up reasons as to why they didn't bother updating NHL 09 for the PC (which I've already posted above). The first one:

• The PC market is too poor, or is poorer as compared to the console market.

This one is a no-brainer: false. If EA truly thought the PC market wasn't feasible for new releases, they wouldn't be coming out with NHL 09 for the PC at all. And EA is hardly out for the niché market, either. EA makes games that are popular, good and they sell. Since they sell, they continue to publish them. Whether or not they or their developers put enough effort into the games they make...that's another issue to be discussed shortly.
A counter-argument would be to point at EA Sports' vaunted Madden series. On April 1, 2008, EA Sports' new president Peter Moore announced that a PC version of the game would not be released in 2009, stating:

...I’ll reiterate what I said a couple of weeks ago in this space…the PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. (link)

(Peter Moore, of course, was a big name in Microsoft's Xbox division and, before that, was president and COO of Sega of America during the rise and fall of the Dreamcast. That's mostly irrelevant, certainly, but that's why I have this all in parenthesis.)

To be fair, EA Sports does have "some very serious business challenges" in its PC market, primarily due to fans doing their games, but not their business, a service. For example, every version of NBA Live, MVP Baseball, NHL Hockey, FIFA Soccer and Madden NFL as been modded in some way, shape or form by fans, primarily graphically and with rosters. EA has unfortunately missed the message, which is "Improve your games so fans don't have to." I don't see Konami bailing out of making Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 for the PC, do you? The PES series (and, before that, the Winning Eleven series) has been one of the most fan-modded games in recent memory, and is year after year better-reviewed and well-received than EA's FIFA series (which plays a role in this, more later). Or maybe the "very serious business challenges" have more to do with...

• Piracy is destroying the marketability of PC games.

On January 12, 2008, community manager for Infinity Ward (Call of Duty 4) Robert Bowling said this on his blog:

On another PC related note, we pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer (which was fantastic). What wasn’t fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies (and that was only people playing online). (link)

Welcome to 1999! We have a special gift for you! It's called Napster.

I'm a self-proclaimed pirate. I don't advocate it, but I do it because it's cheaper than buying something I may not love enough to have been happy I paid $50-$60+ dollars for. Piracy has been an issue for the major media (TV, movies, music, software, books, etc.) for as long as there's been a way to copy them and distribute them for cheaper than what their actual owners do. In the 2007 documentary Good Copy Bad Copy, MPAA CEO Dan Glickman even states (paraphrasing), "Piracy will never be stopped, but...they will try to make it as difficult and tedious as possible." The music industry has seen a major reform since the days of Naptster, with many bands now trying to sweeten their music offerings with other downloads, and iTunes making things more approachable for many. Of course, the video game industry made USD $9.5B in 2007, so maybe the comparison isn't fair. Unless you can't ignore the fact that the film industry raked in USD $9.63B in the same year. Piracy is an issue for all and an issue for none simulatenously. Improve your product, lower your prices, or lose your business. That's capitalism.

Unlike numbers for sales, numbers are piracy are near impossible to collect. In the case of Call of Duty 4, apparently not so much. In general however, when I read about people complaining about piracy, I think they're complaining about below expectations sales, which could also be due to a crappy product. But piracy is the best scapegoat in the media industries because no one likes to argue when the law is bandied about. However changing attitudes in the music industry may ultimately change opinions on that matter. Or maybe not, when console game prices have gone up $10 apiece and Blu-ray DVDs have done the same.

Regardless, NHL 09 wasn't updated because EA doesn't want another game to be pirated. That's false, and ridiculous. If they were that worried about piracy they wouldn't have released NHL 09 at all, or FIFA 09, or Tiger Woods 09. They would've stuck with the tougher-to-pirate console versions. No, I think they didn't update NHL 09 because of the next theory, which I'm introducing to the argument:

• They're lazy.

EA Sports made this theory moot a month before I even made it, by announcing the FIFA 09 will be "next-gen" for the PC. WHAT?!

Sure enough, I've played the demo and it plays and looks like it will be very similar to the console versions, if not the same. This blows me and my theory away. However, one very reasonable counter argument to this would be that EA isn't as concerned with the competitiveness of the NHL series as they are the FIFA series. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 was next-gen and has been stealing EA's business away year-after-year, fan-made modifications and all. One thought is that EA had no other choice but to remain competitive with its FIFA franchise and their only choice was and has been for years to try and keep up with Konami. Fine, that's a pretty good counter-argument.

I still think they're lazy. As I've stated before, NBA Live is modified constantly by the community, and this year, like Madden NFL, there will not be a PC version. All this points to is EA giving up on trying to make things better so that PC gamers don't have to pirate their games.
Now, if there is an argument in favor of EA, they would be more than glad to point out that there have been some updates for the PC version of NHL 09, which I'd be also glad to point out:

• Jerseys, graphics and rosters (yawn)
• Be A Pro

That's two things. Sure, I'm ignoring Rookie Mode and all the European Leagues, but I and all my fellow NHL fans don't care. If they hadn't done the typical jersey, graphics and rosters updates, we'd still be playing NHL Hockey. That's the biggest gimmie ever.

Be A Pro mode, however, is a gigantic slap in the face. Instead of a full-fledged update to meet or beat the features on the consoles, we get this? A piece, a taste of what we could've had if we got a nice, new console? Bullshit. EA Sports, you've been doing this sort of crap for years. You wonder why people pirate your game. It's because no one wants to spend $50 on one new major feature every year. Not anymore.

Frankly I can't come up with a solid answer as to why EA Sports didn't update NHL 09, primarily thanks to their treatment of their other franchises. They aren't releasing Madden 09, despite it being their #1 franchise, even though it's probably the least modified of all their franchises. They aren't releasing NBA Live 09, which the fans would probably update to the standards EA would anyway. They are not only releasing FIFA Soccer 09 but bringing it up to speed with its console versions, but probably only because PES09 will be taking away more of its business.

I've got it. It's a combination of laziness and lack of competition. But, wait. EA never really had much competition on the PC. Plus they are came out with a widely-panned Tiger Woods 09. Shit.

(The irony in all this is that the console versions of NHL 09 will see a landmark update: the EA Sports Hockey League. An MMO. Which dominate PCs.)

Since no one read all of that, let me try to be more concise.

• Madden 09 is not coming out for PC
• NBA Live 09 isn't either
• FIFA 09 is coming out and is being updated, but probably because of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 kicking its ass
• NHL 09 is coming out, but is not being updated and is the same shit they've been releasing for god-knows-how-long

So fans of the NHL PC games are still up in arms over the current-gen console version being better than the PC version, and I'm in with the PC people. At the very least, EA should bring NHL PC up to par with the console versions graphically, AI-wise and physics-wise. No one has explained why they won't, and there's a few theories:

• Piracy (bullshit)
• Poor PC market (bullshit)
• They're lazy (bullshit)
• Lack of competition (plausible)

Of course, not having competition didn't stop EA Sports from making PC games for the last decade when they've had virtually no competition at all.

I'm just feeling a little outcasted by EA Sports in all this.

How ya doing, buddy?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Dude I am pretty sure the only differences between these games are the rosters and the bonus to playing on PC is modding so if you have the PC version for '07 or whatever just edit that shit

I am pretty sure it must have been done already go search on SportsGamesChangingIncrementallyEachYearPlanet

How ya doing, buddy?

I guess the solution to a game that is unsatisfying and whose creators show no willingness to change is to - going out on a limb here - not play it.

Then again, if your gaming experience is ruined by pretend-Bryan McCabe still wearing a Leafs jersey, then perhaps the problem does not lie within EA.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Ha ha, you're a fucking retard Dope.

Quote:

Improve your product, lower your prices, or lose your business. That's capitalism.

If you're arguing capitalism, surely the mantra is "These idiots will buy our game every year we release it. Most of the PC players aren't going to pay for it anyway so let's not bother wasting any time or effort on that version. Those who do buy it and complain, well fuck 'em, stupid bastards bought it anyway".

The notion that computer games companies are somehow honour bound to produce games in line with the expectations of fans is a ridiculous one. If there was any money to be made in making a decent ice skating game for the PC better than EA's effort then you know what? Someone would have done it. That's capitalism for you right there.

EA, no matter what you think of them are very good at making money. They worked out the likely revenue from a decent game and the associated costs, then they estimated the revenue from a second-rate game and worked out those costs. The crap version meant more profit so they went with that.

PC gaming is dead, or at the very least dying. Consoles are significantly cheaper, work first time, don't require further cash outlay to be able to even run the latest games, are now capable of matching performance with most PCs and make more money for the producers as they're harder to pirate. Why don't you quit your complaining and next time you're looking at having to splash another $500 on a graphics card to play the latest game you stole off the internet, waddle down to the shops and buy a 360 instead.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Pangalin

Dude I am pretty sure the only differences between these games are the rosters and the bonus to playing on PC is modding so if you have the PC version for '07 or whatever just edit that shit

There are pretty major graphical differences, not to mention improvements in AI, physics, animation, and, oh yeah, a far better online feature set. If people could just mod that in, you bet your ass they would've done it for NHL 07. And probably better.

I guess my major complain boils down to why they updated FIFA 09 and not NHL 09. Shin, I'm sure EA did whatever you said they did...

Quote:

EA, no matter what you think of them are very good at making money. They worked out the likely revenue from a decent game and the associated costs, then they estimated the revenue from a second-rate game and worked out those costs. The crap version meant more profit so they went with that.

...yeah, that, and I'm sure EA has some really dynamite metric to prove that updating all their games and releasing them for PC would be unfeasible. I'm just amazed that they think FIFA is a more marketable franchise than NHL. I'm equally amazed they don't think making an updated Madden for PC would be worth it. NONE OF IT MAKES ANY SENSE.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

FIFA is a more marketable franchise than NHL, Jesus fucking Christ.

It's a shame EA doesn't give numbers for the sales from their PC versions of these games, but the console numbers are pretty insane, if vgcharts is to be trusted. (And they're generally not that bad.)

From the numbers on that site, FIFA on the PS3 and 360 outsold NHL on the same two consoles almost 2 to 1, IN AMERICA. I can't imagine the PC market would be that different either. Add in European sales and holy shit your ratio gets extremely skewed.

But a little research and common sense would be a lot to ask from you, I think.

FELIPE NO

OK, that still doesn't explain why they didn't release Madden.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Of which Peter Moore has already explained as due to lack of sales.

Madden 20th Anniversary and More! - Peter Moore Blog

This is fucking rocket science, ain't it?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If you'd read my massive rant, you'd notice I already saw that blog. "Very serious business challenges" is not necessarily "lack of sales". Again, sounds like EA's just fucking lazy.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Moore

The PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Do you have a problem with context or something?

How ya doing, buddy?

The remainder is irrelevant. If the PC market is so dead, why make any games for it? You're not answering my question.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Holy shit. It's not, for fuck's sake. But the sales for these two particular games clearly aren't good enough to bother with the additional cost of doing entries for that platform.

This rant of yours is blind sensationalist bullshit, and you're not looking at any facts whatsoever, even when it's right under your nose. When someone from the company says in no unclear terms that it's not worth developing for a specific platform due to sales on the other ones, it doesn't make sense to just turn around and say "neener neener you're lazy. These reasons you have made up have nothing to do with general business practices and you trying to make a profit, and has everything to do you with you sitting on your damn ass."

Come the fuck on here. We're not being vague. This shouldn't be too hard to figure out. If you can't put one and one together, I don't think we can really help you.

Tell me, how do you decide which half of his quote is relevant and which isn't? You've got this almost Lix-like sense of entitlement and selective comprehension going on that's really starting to scare me.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Dope you're just venting your frustrations and don't want any answers. Maybe this should be moved to Quiet Place?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Fantastic idea.

FELIPE NO

Damn, never knew how fat Dope is, this thread might do better in The Kitchen.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Here's my EA NHL rant;

WHERE THE FUCK IS MUTANT LEAGUE HOCKEY 09?

Most amazing jew boots

Sorry Infernal Monkey, the market just isn't good enough for EA Sports to release MHL09 this year. Or any year.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I am very sad. Gonna write some poems.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Don't be too sad! Mutant League FOOTBALL is on the way next year!

How ya doing, buddy?

=oo This reduces my sadness and my grip on the pen as it digs into the paper! Mutant League anything is better than Mutant League nothing!

EA: "Mutant League Boogie!"



I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Don't be too sad! Mutant League FOOTBALL is on the way next year!

So this all basically boils down to you being butthurt that football is more popular than ice hockey?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

If that were the case, wouldn't I be complaining about Madden not coming out?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Shin

So this all basically boils down to you being butthurt that football is more popular than ice hockey?

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

If that were the case, wouldn't I be complaining about Madden not coming out?

.......no. No, people who are butthurt over other things being more popular than the things they like do not complain about the other things not being promoted.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by a lurker

.......no. No, people who are butthurt over other things being more popular than the things they like do not complain about the other things not being promoted.

Because it's convenient for my argument, right? The least you guys could do is not pretend to know what I'm thinking.

Jam it back in, in the dark.