For those who have already purchased the EA Sports ‘Season Ticket’ or choose to do so now – the download of NHL 12 for the Xbox 360 has been made available and as of Friday afternoon it is out for the PS3 as well. The ‘Season Ticket’ costs $25 and runs for a period of one year – providing three day early access to (and a 20% DLC discount for) Madden NFL, NHL, FIFA, FIFA Street, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NCAA Football.
The digital copy of NHL 12 will expire early Tuesday AM at 6ET/3PT after which a retail copy will have to be purchased. All game saves and achievements will transfer over. The only mode that will not be available during the ‘Season Ticket’ period is Hockey Ultimate Team.
For those who choose to purchase the game consider the Amazon deal that provides a $10 promotional credit to be used on a future site purchase and release day shipping. 360 – PS3.
The ‘Season Ticket’ kicked off with Madden NFL 12 and while it didn’t collect a huge number of consumers the response from those who got involved was generally positive. The program worked as advertised and the time with the game ended up being over the promised 76 hours. EA Sports initially claimed they were targeting the program at the hardcore fans and held true to that as they did nothing to advertise it – barely anyone even knew it existed. It may get a big surge come FIFA 12 however given its intensely dedicated and gigantic fan base that will likely jump at the chance to play early.