Sorry, "ICE-Q 2.0 Powered by NHL Edge".
A five-minute NHL 26 deep dive was offered up this morning, with half of the video dedicated to its ICE-Q 2.0 Powered by NHL Edge AI systems. Following on from the game’s announcement earlier this month, fans aren’t too pleased with the presentation.
“I’ve never seen a company be more disconnected from what the player base wants than this,” one user wrote in a comment attached the video, already upvoted 167 times at the time of writing.
“It’s cool that they are incorporating more real life behaviors, and new animations, camera angles, and presentation details are always welcome. But none of this feels like enough to be touted as primary new features as a selling point,” added another user on Reddit. “Some of the closeups on players during gameplay looked terrible, in terms of their posture and pose.”
While avoiding topics like the potential copy/paste of Be a Pro mode entirely, EA’s deep dive presentation focused on ICE-Q 2.0, new X-Factors, and a new Goalie Crease Control System.
Speaking of its AI, EA said, “ICE-Q… [is] our smarter AI and decision-making system, now powered by real-world NHL EDGE data. This is the same puck and player tracking tech used in all 32 NHL arenas, and it’s now driving the way players move, think, and respond in Chel.”
The Edge system tracks players’ movement, speed, shot location and velocity, movement heat maps, and more — and EA has said that data will drive how superstars react and play within NHL 26.
Fans seemingly aren’t sold.
“It was funny when they described Bouchard’s slap shot x factor” one Reddit user wrote, responding to the deep dive video. “Kadri controlled by the AI back skates into his own goalie with no awareness. The narrator says the shot had an x factor and took the goaltender by surprise. I think having your own player take you out for no reason will do that too.
“Also it shows that the NHL Edge is only useful for a handful of players,” they concluded. “I don’t think Kadri has a real world tendency to back skates into his goaltenders all the time.”
NHL 26 heads to Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5 from 13 September. You can pay for a pricier Digital Deluxe Edition of the title that provides early access (and more Tkachuks on the cover) from 5 September.
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NHL 2612 September 2025PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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