NHL 25 Reveals Cover Stars, Release Date, and More

Key Takeaways

NHL 25 by EA will launch on October 4 with improved player AI and revamped graphics, promising a new experience for fans.
The game’s Franchise mode will receive a significant update, along with enhancements to player skeletons and character models.
Pre-ordering NHL 25 can grant fans extra rewards and early access, so get ready to hit the ice and experience the changes.

Electronic Arts has finally revealed some critical details about the upcoming sports title NHL 25, including the real-life stars that will adorn the cover, along with some key details about the mechanics and the game’s release date. According to EA, NHL 25 will launch on October 4 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam, and will bring with it a huge revamp of the usual series staples.

EA Sports titles have been a hugely successful cash cow for the company for a long time, having branched out from football with the classic Madden NFL series and expanding into sports like UFC fighting and, of course, hockey. While each new entry typically just brings an updated roster of playable athletes, visual improvements, and slight tweaks to the game’s mechanics, NHL 25 will seemingly revamp the series when it launches.

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Several video games are set to lose all online functionality by the end of September, giving players little time to mop up the last few achievements.

In a post on Twitter showing NHL stars and siblings Quinn, Jack, and Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks, who will seemingly appear on the game’s cover, EA shared a link to the webpage for NHL 25 and confirmed the release date of October 4. Among them are the “Ice-Q” system, which is a recent technology that promises improved player AI in EA Sports titles for more realistic matches, along with significant overhauls to the game’s graphics.

EA Confirms New Details for NHL 25

The website also reveals the newly-improved Grudge Match system, which tracks the real-life competitive history of various NHL teams in order to make for more lifelike matches between them. It is unclear as of now exactly how the AI in NHL 25 might improve, but given the company’s past issues with player AI in series like the now-defunct EA Sports FIFA titles, it seems to be a response to previous fan complaints.

AI is not the only way NPCs are set to improve, as NHL 25 is also promising massive upgrades to player skeletons and various aspects of character models, such as hair and skin details, which will seemingly be much more realistic. To achieve this, EA is reportedly utilizing SAPIEN, the same character model technology used in the current-gen exclusive Madden NFL 24 that allowed for much more highly detailed player models and animations.

In general, EA is hailing NHL 25 as a huge revamp for the series, as the game’s Franchise mode, which is effectively its main story mode, will also get a huge update. Players will have to wait until the game launches on October 4 to find out if these improvements live up to the hype, but fans who pre-order can get some extra rewards and even early access depending on the edition they choose.