NHL 23 interview: ‘We have this incredible opportunity from an inclusion perspective’

EA Sports' Sean Ramjagsingh tells us why NHL 23 is shaping up as one of the more exciting NHL games in recent years.

NHL 23 is out today on console and PC, and while it may seem like this is another annual iteration of the classic sports franchise on the surface, there’s quite a bit more going on beneath the ice. Sean Ramjagsingh, VP of EA Sports, tells us that improvements in the Frostbite development engine and some significant changes on the ice in real life helped make NHL 23 one of the more exciting NHL games to work on in recent years.

“We know that players’ expectations continue to grow, and we also have limited time to deliver against those expectations,” Ramjagsingh explains. “We’ve got list upon list of features that we want to put into the game, and then we need to scope based on the time and resources that we have.”

The decision-making process starts immediately after the team launches their current game, as they take feedback on board and start immersing themselves in the real-life game once again. Ramjagsingh says cut features from previous games are the first ideas that come up for the next NHL, such as expanding the number of teams and customizations in franchise mode, one of NHL 23’s new headline features. However, the team looks at much more than just what they couldn’t squeeze in the first time.

“As creatives, part of our job is to understand what’s happening in the sports gaming industry, the broader gaming industry, as well as looking at trends and motivations of players,” Ramjagsingh says. “A lot of what you see in NHL is [from] the team seeing something noteworthy on TV or experiencing it in a real-life [match] and then bringing that back to work the next day and try to figure out how to bring that next level of authenticity to the game.”

Improvements in EA’s Frostbite engine helped Ramjagsingh’s team make this year’s NHL more authentic and immersive in ways both subtle and overt. According to Ramjagsingh, player celebrations and on-ice projections are the most detailed yet in NHL 23 – players can even pass the Stanley Cup around and see their names on it – but one of the features he’s most excited for players to experience is the crowd. 

The team created a more aware crowd for NHL 23, where the audience reacts with greater intensity to the moment-to-moment action on the ice, and Ramjagsingh said these features stand out the most with new audio technology. This level of authenticity and immersion is what EA wants to continue striving to improve in future iterations as it continues delving into the Frostbite engine’s potential.

Ramjagsingh says the development team has contacts throughout NHL, including coaches, players, and general managers, who help them understand how the sport is evolving in subtle and not-so-subtle ways as the season progresses. One of the most significant recent changes allows the developers to make NHL 23 more authentic in a different way: including the women’s league in NHL Ultimate Team.

“We have this incredible opportunity with the game – the platform that we have that reaches millions of players every single year – to really take a leadership position from an inclusion perspective and pushing that sport forward,” Ramjagsingh explains.  “And we’re trying to do that with the action that we’re taking with the inclusion of the women’s teams. 

“[It’s] a big moment for us as a franchise, allowing the best man and woman to play on the ultimate fantasy team, and having the best women in the world represented on par with the best men.”

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF.