Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
For about 16 minutes SPORT.sk had an exclusive opportunity when the game’s senior producer Chris Haluke and senior director of game design Mike Inglehart from EA Sports answered questions. And we translated for you our dear readers of WePlayGames.net!
The reporter Martin Toth-Vaňo asked them several questions, some of which received interesting answers, while others needed the necessary information to answer. Even if you don’t play the NHL game, the interview will give you at least a slight insight into how they work in a big company like EA Sports to create a hockey game.
A new version of the NHL game, popular among hockey fans, is released every year. This year, NHL 25 was released for the first time only on the latest generation of consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox X. Since 2008, the game has yet to be released on computers and has now stopped being released on older consoles. Why is this, and will we ever see a computer version again? In an exclusive interview, we asked the game’s creators from EA Sports.
Interview with Developers of NHL 25
The new version of NHL 25 has been on sale for a few days now. How happy are you with this year’s game?
M: “This is my third version since joining the company. From a gameplay perspective, it’s great to see the first reactions from players who like the new features in the game. Our goal has always been to create the most authentic version of hockey possible and I think we’re finally starting to do that now. We’re seeing it especially in the reactions to the gameplay, which is of course the heart of any game.”
Where would you like to see an NHL game in, say, three years? Do you have an idea on that?
CH: “Right now we’re concentrating on making the launch of NHL 25 seamless. We will be adding many more things to the game itself, which we will report on soon.”
CH: “The key to our decision was that we wanted to concentrate on the latest generation of game consoles. That way we can get the best out of both consoles. With this we can have a significant visual improvement to the game, which was one of our goals. We have over 300 new player heads in the game, new hair, ice effects, jersey effects… All of these things would not have been possible if we were also preparing a version for the older consoles.”
The NHL last came out on PC with the 2009 version. Will the NHL ever come back to computers? I personally know players who still play NHL 09 on the computer and would welcome a newer version.
CH: “Let’s just say we’re always exploring all the options we have. It’s something we’ll continue to have discussions about.”
There are several leagues in play, either overseas or European. What does the decision-making and conversations look like about if and which league will be in play?
CH: “We have a number of leagues in play and we are in discussions with other leagues about possibly adding them. It depends on what makes business and regional sense. Our team makes decisions based on that, but there’s also licensing and rights that matter and what makes sense for our product.”
Logically, the game is mainly focused on overseas leagues and the NHL in particular. But how do you work with European leagues, clubs or players?
M: “We have a team that deals with the leagues’ licenses, several of which were signed before we both came into this project. Every year there are changes to the jerseys, the ice, sometimes the logos. So they also make sure that the player database is updated correctly. It’s also a big part of our game.
The leagues and players are then also in other modes like Hockey Ultimate Team and play a role in different aspects of the product. So it’s so much that we have a dedicated team that handles the relationships with the leagues as well.”
Slovak Hockey Extraliga
When asked if there were conversations with the Slovakian Extraliga about possibly adding them to the game, they couldn’t answer our question. However, according to our information, there have been no discussions between EA Sports and Tipos Extraliga representatives.
A big topic in the game is always player ratings in the game. How does their creation work?
CH: “Ratings are always a big topic with NHL players as well. We have a small team whose job is just evaluations, they do the best they can. Certainly there are always questions and comparisons about the ratings, but they really dedicate their time to that, to make sure that the ratings make sense at least from an overall global and comprehensive standpoint, working with the data that they have available to them.”
Does it work that way with players at European clubs as well? Because for them there are often strange evaluations that don’t reflect reality very much.
M: “I know they work with some scouts as well. So we communicate with people around the world who follow different leagues and give data to our team. So it’s not like two people sitting in a room and picking player ratings.”
In recent years, international modes such as the World Cup have also been added to the game. How happy are you with this and what are your plans for international hockey in the future?
M: “We are happy for the ones we have at the moment. Every year we look at our options and decide what makes sense for us.”
Although there are modes like the World Hockey Championship or the Junior Championship, they are made in such a way that you can’t edit them, so you can’t add Erik Cernak to the Slovak team, for example, who wasn’t at the last championship. Why is that?
M: “Unfortunately we can’t answer that. Obviously it was dealt with before we came. So we can’t answer that.”
There are no real coaches in the game. Is that something you’re considering and could that change in future years?
CH: “We’re looking at different options and we’re thinking about things that we could add to the game and this is definitely one of them.”
M: “It’s certainly an interesting possibility. Obviously coaches play an important role in hockey, it’s part of what would add authenticity to the game and we’ll be looking at things like that as time goes on.”
In NHL general manager fashion, you can’t sign a player from Europe to your team. Is there any chance of that happening in the future?
M: “Expanding that mode is definitely one of our options. We’ve made a number of new additions to it this year. Adding the ability to sign players from Europe and bring them to the NHL is definitely something that we will be looking at, as well as other possible new features, in the future.”
Several players have said of the NHL that each new release is basically just updated rosters. How do you feel about that criticism and what would you say to players who think that?
M: “Hockey is hockey and it doesn’t change massively from year to year, but we put a lot of energy into making meaningful changes that improve the overall experience of the game. We’ve added a new tool in 2024, a new pressure system, we’ve changed the goaltending and made some major changes.
Same this year, we’ve slowed down the speed of the game, the skating system is different, a lot has been done with the AI, we’ve given better game plans, we’ve improved the players’ positions on the ice…
At first glance, the changes won’t seem big, but the more people play NHL 25, the more they realize it really feels like hockey. Every year we’re very focused on moving the game forward and we’re going to continue to do that and we’re really happy with the feedback we’re getting this year.”
It’s not often that players discover an action or style of shot in a game that always ends in a goal. The same thing has happened this year. Do you work with their feedback?
M: “Yes, we listen to the players’ feedback. I’m in contact with the players every day whether it’s through X, Reddit or Discord. It’s important to look at what the players are saying and also what the data is saying, how much of it the data says is actually happening. Because every player in every mode can have a different experience.
Last year we released the most improvements in the history of the game, I personally am very passionate about gameplay and improving that aspect of the game. So we’re actively looking at that now, but we don’t want to react too quickly and too hastily again.”
Is there anything that you personally would like to see in the game in future years?
CH: “There are a lot of things. Both myself and the whole team want to add a lot of things and every year we gradually tick off our list of what we’ve already added. But quite honestly, right now we’re mostly looking at the current NHL 25, which has a lot of things to come. We’re really looking forward to the moment when we announce it to the players and the community.”
M: “We are actively exploring the possibilities of an online general mode. That’s something I’m personally very interested in. Being able to play leagues with my friends from all over the world is something that I’m excited to tackle going forward actively.”
