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=view&article_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.

Gutted.

I love this game. I've lived and breathed it since I came here, to see it dropped is a huge blow. Frustrating to know that we couldn't do anything to help save it; everyone who knows it knows it's a great game but unfortunately that's not enough. Some much stuff I wanted to do, but now I'll never get the chance.

Thanks to those of you who've been around and who have purchased the game(s) and given us invaluable feedback. Look forward to seeing you around on the EHM forums here, we'll still be active for a while at least.

The best game I will ever work on.

Agent Kelly signing off...forever

Graeme got in there first, but I can only echo what he's said there really.

This is not a decision we took lightly but thank you to everyone who supported the game.

It's a sad day for us here at SI Towers.

Sad news . I wish sales could have made it worthwhile to continue. Best of luck to all of you.

Bullshit

And obviously thanks to the translators too!

quote:

Originally posted by Graeme Kelly:
Gutted.

I concur

I'm a bit lost for words right now, so I'll prolly post some more words later on....

I'd just like to thank each and every single person who ever helped us make these three games. All the people who worked on the game at SI and Sega, all the Head Researchers who busted their chops and all the team researchers and testers who helped us along. Last but not least, a big thank you to every single soul who helped us realize these games by buying a copy.

Gutted.

This suck

Everyone on the EHM team; it's been a pleasure to work with you for the last 2-3 years.
I've enjoyed most if it. Thank you all!

I'll miss looking at some of the awesome logos that have passed through over the years.

Manitoba Moose

Absolutely gutted!

A game I have spent so many hours on, I can't believe this will be the last one. The game had SO much potential and had the chance to reach the heights FM has.

Well done to Riz and the team, you made a hell of a game.

One gutted EHM fan

Darn.

I cannot beleive it. I am absolutely gutted! I, well, i just don't know what to say. Except Thanks! You guys have been incredible.

Right from Riz's freeware version of the game, i thought i knew i had discovered my favourite game, and for SIgames to take up the idea and help Riz development was a dream come true for (im sure Riz) but for all the freeware fans too.

I have played this game an unreal number of hours since the first release and i will continue to.

This is indeed horrendus news, BUT, if there is one good thing to come out of it, it is the fact that this game is still here, i can still play it and i am sure people will continue to make roster updates etc.

I will never stop playing this game, and once again i would like to thank Riz and all the team for their amazing work over the years and wish them all the best in their future endeavours and hopefully there will be a time when it is feasible to release NHL:EHM once again!

**Wipes away the Tears**

thanks for the patch guys, but i'm absolutley gutted that this is almost surely the end of the best game i've ever played . thanks to all those who created it, its just a shame that hockey just doesn't seem to have any popularity anymore.

good luck to all who helped create it and many thanks once again

That's bad news.

Thanks guys

Figures that I just find a game that I really like and then it gets shut down.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this game. You guys did an awesome job. I'd also like to thank those damn ass-pirates for ruining it. Way to go jerks!!

Blimey, I’d normally be on hand to provide some pithy sarcastic comment to belittle Kelly and Co, but I know how damn hard you’ve worked on this over the years so all I can say is that I’m gutted for you

Still, I’m sure the EHM dudes will be an asset to FM going forward and whatever idea Kelly is cooking up (no pun) will be a great addition

Working on EHM was my first job here at SI, and I had a lot of fun getting the project off the ground with Riz, Graeme, and Grant, it was good times up in suites 7 and 8.

It's sad to see it go.

How would a hand-held EHM hold up, do you think?

quote:

Blimey, I’d normally be on hand to provide some pithy sarcastic comment to belittle Kelly and Co, but I know how damn hard you’ve worked on this over the years so all I can say is that I’m gutted for you

whs

Gutted for you guys.

Damn, this sucks

The game has so much potential.

Seriously, if you guys just fixed the remaining small bugs and added a couple of more leagues (even without licenses - we could always unfake them) and called the game EHM2008, I would still by it.

Or maybe just release an enchancement pack for with a few extra things and fixes - I would buy that to

Ackter - it wouldn't. Previously investigated...

quote:

Originally posted by ElQuapo:


Seriously, if you guys just fixed the remaining small bugs and added a couple of more leagues (even without licenses - we could always unfake them) and called the game EHM2008, I would still by it.

Or maybe just release an enchancement pack for with a few extra things and fixes - I would buy that to

Exactly, the only issue i will have is when i am playing the game in about 3/4 yeas time i will still have to start a new game in 2006.

But i can assure you all i will still be playing this.

It's been great working with you guys.

J-F

I just wanted to echo what everyone else said, It's a real shame such a great game hasn't worked out.

Although I'm sure somewhere in the future it'll be back.