Publisher Electronic Arts as we would expect has continued to lead the market in sports simulators and the firm shares to keep its reputation with another lineup of entries arriving during the latter segment of this year. Earlier in June, the firm revealed both Madden NFL 21 as well as FIFA 21 which are both receiving versions dressed for current systems and the upcoming, next-generation of consoles.
However, some titles we are already aware of are not present. Such as NBA Live: the publisher disclosed last year that the team responsible for the series, EA Tiburon, would work towards revitalizing the franchise with a new project aim for next-generation consoles. The studio did so by cancelling last year’s annual entry and has failed to tell when the series will officially return.
Another absent series is EA Sports’ NHL. The title did not make the cut in recent presentations and fans grew worried as for where the next entry will be. Thankfully, EA Sports has made a comment on the next game by addressing that the next installment, NHL 21, is in development.
To answer the most commonly asked question first, NHL 21 will launch a little later this year, shifting from our usual September window to October. This year has been full of extraordinary circumstances and we’ve had to make major adjustments in developing the game from home. This transition has been very successful and we’re happy to say that the game is on track and feature-complete against our original vision, we just need a few extra weeks to do the polish, fine tuning and bug fixing. We know some of you will be disappointed by this news, but our goal with NHL 21 is to deliver an experience that will be worth the wait.
In addition to the clarification on the next entry set to arrive later this fall, the developer involved also disclosed that waiting followers will only have to be patient for an additional month as a first-look presentation will be taking place in late August, EA Sports shared in the update post. In contrast to its sibling games, NHL 21 does standout among the rest.
Why is that? It is because NHL 21 will only be available on current-generation consoles. The firm discloses that the decision was made to favor new innovations and other in-game additions over the chore to work on properly porting the game to the new units shipping late this holiday season. But the firm does comment that versions for newer systems will arrive at a later, undisclosed date.
Also comparing NHL 21 to its relative franchise – this year’s title also will not launch with dual entitlement presumably since there are no plans for a next-generation port when the title arrives. Perhaps EA Sports will integrate the initiative at a later time, but currently it has yet to be spared on what the plans are when the newer versions officially arrive.
Earlier this month, EA Sports also revealed that UFC 4 will be arriving later this August for current hardware. Next-generation versions at the time of the announcement were uncovered over on ESRB. You can read the full report by heading here.
Do you plan on picking up NHL 21 this fall?
NHL 21 is scheduled to ship to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sometime in October 2020.
Source: Electronic Arts
