Initial NHL 16 News Appears to Have Gotten Things Back on Track

There’s been little positivity associated with the EA Sports NHL franchise since a few weeks prior to the release of NHL 15. That was when consumers discovered, on their own for the most part because EA was hiding the fact from them, that the game would be missing many expected features and modes.

The company looks to bounce back with NHL 16 and because of the situation they created its almost a make-or-break year for the series. The primary feature set was revealed recently and a poll followed to gauge reaction. 

For the most part the feature news was received well. 69% classified themselves as “encouraged” by the information, with 46% of them saying they’re more likely to buy now but 23% still not swayed by it. 18% were “discouraged” by the features. 10% of them believe they’re actually less likely to buy now than they were before the news.

These numbers don’t mean that sales will recover fully from the NHL 15 crash. There was no way EA was going to be able to recapture all they lost in one year.

It’s just a necessary start to building back trust – more has to be revealed and sustained through the summer and NHL 16 must ultimately deliver – on a long road to, hopefully, growth and the avoidance of the series being cancelled.