Village Gamer

Electronic Arts Inc. announced today a record-setting launch for EA SPORTS^TM NHL^®13. EA’s internal estimates show that worldwide sell through for NHL 13 in its first week is up 9 percent globally over last year’s previous franchise high, and fans are deeply engaged with the game’s new connected experiences.

Headlined by all-new True Performance Skating and EA SPORTS Hockey I.Q., NHL 13 offers an innovative new gameplay experience that definitively captures the speed, creativity and strategy of NHL^® hockey. NHL 13 also delivers brand new experiences that connect hockey fans to their friends and the real world of hockey with the all-new GM Connected and NHL Moments Live modes. Game Informer calls NHL 13 “the best playing NHL of this generation,” and it’s now available in retail stores across North America and Europe.

“NHL 13 has incredible new gameplay innovation, and it’s the most connected NHL title we’ve ever created,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President of EA SPORTS. “We’re proud of this year’s game, and we’re extremely happy to see our fans worldwide embracing it in record numbers.”

Again with data based on internal EA estimates, this is how fans are playing NHL 13:

• Since the launch of NHL 13, fans have created just under 50,000 of their own alternate versions of the NHL through the new GM Connected feature in NHL 13.
• During the first week, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins were the most popular teams used across all game modes in NHL 13.
• Fans have played over 3.7 million online games, or the equivalent of over 350 games a minute.
• Fans have scored just under 5 million goals in the first week, dwarfing the 244 goals scored during the first week of the real 2011-2012 NHL regular season.