{"title":"EA Vancouver","description":"\u003cp\u003eEA Vancouver is Electronic Arts's largest and oldest studio. It employs roughly 1,300 people in Burnaby, British Columbia, and its roots go back to January 1983, when it opened as Distinctive Software. Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember founded the company on the success of Evolution, a game Mattrick made at 17 that Sydney Development Corporation published in 1982. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Distinctive made its name with racing and sports games released under the Accolade brand, including the Test Drive series, Stunts, 4D Boxing and Hardball II. That partnership also led to one of the era's notable legal fights. In 1989, Distinctive programmers working as Unlimited Software, Inc. converted Sega's arcade racer Out Run for MS-DOS. Accolade sued and lost: the court ruled that the Test Drive II licensing agreement had transferred the game's concept and design, not its underlying source code.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eElectronic Arts bought Distinctive Software in 1991, in a deal reported at roughly $10 to $11 million, and renamed it EA Canada. The studio, which also went by EA Burnaby before taking the EA Vancouver name, became the center of EA Sports development, and its catalog traces much of modern sports gaming. It includes the FIFA series, which continues today as EA Sports FC, along with NHL, EA Sports UFC, and the NBA Live and NCAA Basketball titles made between 1994 and 2009. It also includes the arcade-style EA Sports BIG lineup of SSX, NBA Street, NFL Street and FIFA Street. The studio kept growing through the 2000s. It took on half the jobs from EA Seattle when that studio closed in 2002. That same year, EA bought Black Box Games, which became EA Black Box inside EA Canada. EA Black Box is known for Need for Speed and Skate, and it ran as an independent studio from 2005 until it closed in 2013. In 2011, the studio bought freemium developer Bight Games. Today the Burnaby campus has a motion-capture studio, audio composition rooms, video editing suites and the world's largest video game test operation. If you have ever played a season of NHL or built a squad in EA Sports FC, much of that experience was built here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"nhl-21-xbox-one-digital-download","title":"NHL 21","description":"\u003cp class=\"lead\"\u003eNHL 21 celebrates the most creative, inventive and fearless players in hockey. EA Vancouver's entry in the long-running series puts moves inspired by the league's great innovators on your stick, rebuilds Be A Pro around the conversations that shape a career, and rewards the kind of goals that end up on the highlight reel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eBe A Pro, Expanded and Redesigned\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBe A Pro is where NHL 21 made its biggest changes. The career mode has been expanded and redesigned to make the journey toward the league's elite more immersive than ever, and it now runs on a dynamic conversation system. What you say shapes your relationship with the coaching staff, the endorsement deals that come your way and the salary you can command.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe choices reach beyond the front office, too. How you get along with teammates away from the rink carries into your chemistry on it, so the player you become depends on more than your stat line. That sense of authorship makes each season feel like your own story rather than a list of games to clear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePlay Like the Game's Innovators\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNHL 21 is built around the idea that not all goals are created equal. The players who changed how hockey is played inspired a set of moves you can pull off yourself, and the game recognizes the creative plays that turn good players into great ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Michigan:\u003c\/strong\u003e scoop the puck onto your blade from behind the net and tuck it into the top corner lacrosse-style, the kind of goal that brings a crowd to its feet and earns a replay.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eStyle that counts:\u003c\/strong\u003e highlight-reel plays are exactly what NHL 21 is designed to celebrate, so creative dekes and inventive finishes feel as rewarding as they look when they come off.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRoom to experiment:\u003c\/strong\u003e the move set rewards players willing to try the bold option over the safe one, turning every zone entry with a skilled forward into a chance to create something memorable.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAuthentic NHL Hockey\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs an officially licensed product of the National Hockey League, NHL 21 lets you pick teams from NHL rosters and play realistically depicted games from the opening faceoff to the final horn. The physical side of the sport is here as well: when tempers boil over, players can drop the gloves, and the camera shifts to isolate the two combatants until the fight is broken up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHockey With Friends at Home\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eSingle-Player\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eTake on the AI in your own games or commit to a Be A Pro career, working your way toward the top of the league at your own pace without needing anyone else on the couch.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eLocal Co-op\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eLine up on the same side with two to six players in the room, splitting the roster between you and chasing the win together against the AI on one shared screen.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eLocal Multiplayer\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eFace off head to head with two to four players on one screen, where every chirp lands in person and the rivalry carries on long after the final horn sounds.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003c\/dl\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEA shut down NHL 21's online services on October 6, 2025, so Hockey Ultimate Team (including HUT Rush), World of CHEL and all online matches are no longer available. The offline modes remain available, which keeps Be A Pro and couch hockey on the ice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you love the creative side of hockey, NHL 21 is an invitation to play it your way. Lace up, talk your way into the lineup, and find out what kind of pro you become.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Electronic Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":33515361566806,"sku":"AMZ_B08CYRQP5R","price":6.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0875\/3268\/files\/card-nhl-21-xbox-digital-game.jpg?v=1790525681"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.pjsgames.com\/en-ch\/collections\/ea-vancouver.oembed","provider":"PJ's Games","version":"1.0","type":"link"}