EHM Ceases Development: TBL To Carry On!

Elias26 · Post by **Elias26** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:02 pm

Sad day for us all.

Post by **batdad** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:40 pm

ARgh. Oh well...Here is the thing. Someone out there will come up with rosters for future years, and keep the game going so it is interesting. Thank god for the last patch...hopefully it is a good one. I can see this game being altered, played with and changed over and over by the community, just as the freeware was. Things like unfaking will go on forever. Database changes will occur all the time. Unfortunately, nothing else will get better--all the hard coded stuff, than in this last patch. I can see myself playing a 2030 season.

djskek · Post by **djskek** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:44 pm

help me guys,

i don't understand this text by the link?

short explanation, please..... sorry, but my english...

Elias26 · Post by **Elias26** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:46 pm

Well, there's good news, bad news, then some good news again. So....

The first bit of good news, is that we are happy to announce and make available the final patch for Eastside Hockey Manager 2007. This includes lots of little improvements and bug fixes, and you can find the patch http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=vi ... le_id=1260. We hope that this will increase the longevity and enjoyability (ooh, new made up word) for the release of the game.

Now onto the bad news. As you know, the last Eastside release was via digital download. At the time, people complained about this as a distribution method, but it was the only one open to us - the first version of Eastside did very well in Scandinavia, pretty well in Europe and just about OK in the US & Canada. The second also did just about OK in the US and Canada, just about OK in Europe, but despite great review scores and decent pre-orders, the sales in Scandinavia, that had pretty much kept the game going, dropped heavily, from our analysis of the situation, mainly due to the game getting hacked before release, and pirated. Because of this, a retail release wasn't worthwhile with the pre-orders that we were going to get from retail, so we thought we'd go digi download, and encourage people to buy that way, whilst having a lower break even point due to retail not taking their cut.

So the game came out to glowing reviews, and decent online pre-orders, and we sat and waited to see the numbers going up and up. The forums were full of people constructively criticising, and praising (just the way we like it) and we were all pretty buoyant. We had more licenses than any other hockey game in history, it was the best Hockey management game in the history of gaming ever, and Riz and his team had done an amazing job. So, despite Hockey being a bit less popular post the hiatus of the sport in the US in 2004, we still couldn't fail, right?

Wrong. The orders came in a drizzle, rather than a flood. We scratched our heads trying to work out what had gone wrong. And then someone pointed out that the game was being pirated, and was available as a torrent from lots of different pirating sites. Then sat there and watched as the claimed amount of downloads on those sites went up and up, as sales stayed static.

Basically, the game did not bring in enough money to cover the development costs, let alone the license fees on top of that. So we've had to make the decision to stop development on the game for now - it doesn't mean that it'll never come back, but for the foreseeable future, there will not be another version of Eastside Hockey Manager.

The good news is that the amazing talented people on the Eastside team have all decided to stay with Sports Interactive. Riz, Ed & Phil are going to be working on Football Manager moving forward, and Graeme has joined our R&D department to work on developing a new idea forward, which we'll be announcing later in the year.

Thank you to all of you out there who supported the Eastside Hockey Manager project by buying the game, and especially those who helped with testing and research. And to those of you who pirated it, this is what happens when you steal. There are no excuses you can give that are valid for stealing - you have lead to the demise of a game that you enjoyed playing.

Elias26 · Post by **Elias26** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:48 pm

He is saying the patch is finished but they can not make anymore EHM because people stole the full version off of the internet.

djskek · Post by **djskek** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:58 pm

ohh yes, i believe i have unterstand! game production stop? no new game? perhaps possibly when again? $:\$ :blue:

Elias26 · Post by **Elias26** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:04 pm

maybe never

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:16 pm

Eastside Hockey Manager (2004-2007)

RIP

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:33 pm

This is such tragic news. It really hasn't sunk in yet for me

This just shows what happens when people make pirate copies of software - it really does affect the game developers. Perhaps this is the first time that piracy has resulted in a game series being abandoned?

I don't think there will ever be another hockey game anywhere near as good as EHM. SI Games have to be one of the best games developers when it comes to listening to the fans; I can't imagine another games developer making another hockey management game according to what the fans want. Also, I can't imagine SI making another EHM ever. They would have to start right from scratch with regards to publicity.

As for TBL, we say we will never die and this stays true. We will always provide a place for fans of the game to discuss the game and the sport we all love. We will also continue to provide addons and guides for the game; not to mention the EHM Challenges and our many other competitions

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:57 pm

This really is tragic. I've loved this game for years now. I've been playing since the freeware days. EHM was always the one game I felt great about plunking down my hard earned money for. I always knew I was going to get more than my money's worth out of it. Heck, even if it cost twice as much it would be a bargain. How many games can you say you've played THOUSANDS of hours of? With EHM there was just so much replayability. Factor in the dedication of the development team and how closely they interacted with the fans/players... it was truly in a class by itself. Unfortunately, I really doubt I'll be buying anything else from SI. I really don't get into the other sports they make games for.

Looking forward... does anyone know if there is a way we can change the start date of the game so we could play with new fan-made rosters next season? I'm hoping the game can be kept alive through fan updates. It's a perfectly playable game. I don't see any reason we can't keep playing.

flea · Post by **flea** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:02 pm

This is really, really sad!!!!

19nazzy · Post by **19nazzy** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:03 pm

Shadd666 wrote:Eastside Hockey Manager (2004-2007)

RIP

Longer than that wasn't it? The freeware version was out for a long time.

So many good memories, doing my EHM at school, trying to work out trades and contracts.

Sad to see it go

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:09 pm

bruins72 wrote:does anyone know if there is a way we can change the start date of the game so we could play with new fan-made rosters next season?

Absolutely no chance of changing the start date - it's hard-coded into the game.

Post by **batdad** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:17 pm

But if you just change the rosters to the new ones for next season...then 2006-07 could be just the same as 2007-08 but the year numbers would not be correct. So should not be too much of a concern...or we can just have fun the way it is!

Krieger99 · Post by **Krieger99** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:54 pm

This is terrible news. EHM is my favorite game of all time, and because of piracy, it's gone.

Post by **CatchUp** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:13 pm

Unbelieveable. I feel sick.

Post by **B. Stinson** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:17 pm

I'd hate be the negative one here, but I'm really not surprised by this.

It started with the major downgrade to the digital download that sparked my suspicion of EHM being given-up on. Then when I got into the game, it really didn't feel like the 3 potential-filled games I played for the last few years. Add that with the unfortunate, but obvious, drop in SI activity on the official boards - and I ended up with one big suspicion that something was gonna happen to this game, and it wasn't gonna be good. It just had that feeling of going downhill... and, well... here we are.

Either way, though, it's a shame that it's gone. There were still some great things that could have been added to make this an amazing game(wizard mode, in particular

)

Post by **Minstrel** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:19 pm

No longer working on this game will be like losing a limb tbh. This game has been my life's blood since the bitterness of the lockout when EHM saved me from doing something drastic with a whole year without an NHL. Now it's years without an EHM and that's really even a more bleak prospect. But we will keep the fire burning and hopefully some day EHM will be back. Let's see what next year holds next year... I'd rather celebrate having an awesome game now than cry about there not being a version next year

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:21 pm

I disagree about SI giving up on EHM. If they'd given up on the game then there would never have been an EHM 2007 in the first place. If they felt it wasn't cost-effective to make EHM 2007 then they simply never would have bothered in the first place.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:22 pm

It sucks, it certainly does. But I'm not too surprised either.

It's good that there's a good editor out and that you can change the cap number yourself, so maybe people still will be making updates.

RIP EHM.

Post by **B. Stinson** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:24 pm

archibalduk wrote:I disagree about SI giving up on EHM. If they'd given up on the game then there would never have been an EHM 2007 in the first place. If they felt it wasn't cost-effective to make EHM 2007 then they simply never would have bothered in the first place.

I know they didn't give up on it... but in all honesty - anyone who thinks this years version got the meticulous attention that the past two version did, is only kidding themselves.

Post by **Minstrel** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:35 pm

I think in the long run 'twas the lockout that killed EHM. So I blame Gary Bettman for the demise of EHM, not SI. Just as the game was hitting it's stride the sport it is based upon stopped playing for a year and made the entire hockey world bitter about the game's future and we're lucky to have 007 really.

The testing and development of 2007 was miles ahead of previous versions, I can say that first hand. Then the who SI Board Community turned on the game as negative post after negative post hit the forums like a torrent, then the P2P torrents took their turn ripping the game apart and we find ourselves here. There's plenty of blame to spread around but the EHM guys aren't among them, they worked their butts off on this project right up to the last moment of development with the latest patch.

That's all I'm going to say about this; we move on

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:36 pm

I don't know exactly how much meticulous attention previous versions of EHM had because I wasn't a tester for them then. But, in my opinion, from my experience as a tester for EHM 2007 the game did receive meticulous attention from SI. It's pretty astounding how much work and attention to detail these guys have put in.

I'd agree that perhaps EHM 2007 didn't bring as many new features as EHM 2005 but it was still a heck of an improvement. Just think about how much better the 2D match is, the improvements to control over team practice and the much better and more detailed tactical settings. I imagine that the time these improvements took probably restricted their time to introduce completely new features.

Post by **CatchUp** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:00 pm

I agree. 2007 is a definite improvement over 2005.

This all comes down to money, as everything does. EHM died because people on P2P nets ripped off SI, and they didn't make any money. That's it. If that hadn't happened, and SI had met their sales targets, we'd be looking forward to EHM 2008.

As it is, this is a great game. And the way I see it, the only way the EHM franchise gets ressurected is if communitites like THIS ONE stay active. It happened with Family Guy on TV. Think about it.

cheers.

and RIP EHM (till you come back like Jordan, wearin' the 4-5.)

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:33 pm

This is really unfortunate, but a big thank you to the staff at SI for their work over the years.

I can't see this hurting the game for quite a while. I think sites like TBL will keep people playing. For example, just reading new and different things each day on this forum sort of inspires me to start the game up and try out new things.