For players of NHL’s Hockey Ultimate Team game mode, there’s always been one major issue they’ve had to deal with. Whether you’re at work or at school, you currently are unable to access anything regarding HUT. This isn’t a big deal as most events or content drops are at 5pm Eastern, which means that the majority of the player base will be at home, but for those mid-day updates to things like HUT Fantasy cards, players can’t take advantage. For example, if a 93 Fantasy card got upgraded to 94 at 1 pm unless you’re near your console there’s no way for you to snag any active cards available for sale on the auction house, and then resell them for a higher margin.
However, once upon a time you could do this. More specifically, in NHL 14 with the NHL 14 Ultimate Team Mobile App.
When NHL 14 was released, the mobile app was also released alongside it. The app was available on iOS only, and once linked with the account you played Hockey Ultimate Team on, it allowed you to access the game mode from your phone. From there, you could access the majority of HUT’s features asides from actually playing games. You could manage your collection of HUT cards, go on the auction house and bid on cards, and send trade offers, and you could even list your own cards for sale from the trade pile. The app was great for those at work or school, who wanted to try and bid on cards and get great deals while away from their console. It was a great supplement feature to one of the best NHL games ever developed. But the question everyone wonders is whether or not we’ll see a mobile app for Hockey Ultimate Team come back.
When the NHL 14 companion app was first released, we were using the iPhone 5s and 5c as our “brand new iPhones”. App development was much more complex and involved a lot more work than it does today. Even with that in mind, it’s likely we won’t see an app to complement NHL’s most profitable game mode until the game gets back to the same level as NHL 14 for them to release a “bonus” feature like a companion app. They have to focus more on developing the actual game, from gameplay to features. An app would be ideal, but there’s more work that needs to be prioritized before the development of a companion app.
The NHL HUT Companion App brought for great times with friends at work and at school who also played. Posting your market snipes on social media, trade steals, and actively selling your cards and asking for trades in return was a great feature. If NHL and EA ever decide to bring back the app, we're sure it would be a resounding success.