REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 16, 2026--
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today unveiled EA SPORTS™ NHL 27, launching September 11, 2026 on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S. EA SPORTS™ NHL® 27 brings all 32 NHL arenas to life with authentic atmospheres: presentation that reflects each team’s identity, a new commentary team, a new dynamic crowd system, and a new modernized broadcast package. Alongside new social and competitive mode Connected Franchise, this year marks one of the most significant upgrades in franchise history. Generational talent and San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini headlines the Standard and Deluxe Edition covers, ushering in a new era of the EA SPORTS™ NHL franchise.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260716581572/en/
“Seeing the Shark Tank brought to life like that is honestly unreal,” said Macklin Celebrini, NHL 27 cover athlete. “The detail the studio team put into it — from our pre-game entrance skating out through the shark head and the iconic lighting on each seat throughout the stadium to hearing our goal song every time we score — it feels exactly like being out there for a real game. They really captured the atmosphere. Sharks fans are going to load it up and feel like they’re right there in the building with us, and that’s pretty special.”
Experience 32 authentically represented arenas, each designed to capture the sound, spectacle, and identity of its home team. Real-world goal songs, authentic pre-game presentation, and a fully overhauled crowd bring every building closer to its real-world counterpart. Complemented by a fully refreshed commentary team featuring John Buccigross and Darren Pang, every team looks, sounds and plays like themselves from puck drop to the final horn.
Connected Franchise, a new mode coming to NHL 27 as a result of a decade of community requests for a socially connected and competitive experience, allows players to create, customize and manage a shared online league with up to 32 human-controlled teams. This mode offers flexible scheduling, comprehensive roster management and robust commissioner tools designed to evolve alongside the community.
“Our goal for EA SPORTS™ NHL 27 is to deliver a game where players will feel the change the moment they take the ice,” said Mike Inglehart, EA SPORTS™ NHL 27 ’s Senior Game Design Director. “Every arena atmosphere and broadcast visual has been engineered to showcase a true-to-life team feel. We know the proof is in the playing, and we cannot wait for fans to experience this game’s energy for themselves.”
This year’s cover athlete showcases a new generation of elite hockey talent focused on immediate impact. San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini brings his proven skill and dynamic playmaking to the cover, lending his skills to a franchise that is stepping up to prove its commitment directly on the ice. His presence reflects a defining new era for the game, one that answers the call of the community with features like Connected Franchise, and grounds itself in true team identity.
Pre-order* EA SPORTS™ NHL 27 Deluxe Edition to receive 7-day early access.
Pre-order EA SPORTS™ NHL® 27 Deluxe Edition and receive:
Plus, included with NHL 27 Deluxe Edition:
Players who pre-order the EA SPORTS™ NHL® 27 Standard Edition will receive:
All pre-order editions and information can be found here.
Stay tuned for the full rundown of NHL 27 in the coming weeks. To keep up-to-date with the latest game news and information, visit https://www.ea.com/games/nhl/nhl-27 and follow our social channels.
EA Play members can play EA SPORTS™ NHL 27 10-hour early access trial starting September 4th, 2026. Members also score rewards including 3,000 Chel Coins and WOC Season Pass XP Multiplier Tokens, as well as receive 10% off EA digital content including pre-orders, game downloads, NHL Points, and DLC. For more information on EA Play please visithttps://www.ea.com/ea-play
*Conditions and restrictions apply. Seehttps://www.ea.com/games/nhl/nhl-27/game-disclaimersfor details.
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About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.
In fiscal year 2026, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.5 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS FC™, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ College Football, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and EA SPORTS F1 ®. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Dragon Age, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.
NHL 27 Deluxe Edition Cover
GENOA, Italy (AP) — An Italian court on Thursday convicted the former CEO of Italy's main highway operator and 31 others in the 2018 Genoa highway bridge collapse that sent vehicles plunging and killed 43 people, a disaster that exposed serious lapses in the maintenance of Italian infrastructure.
Dozens of family members of the victims packed the courtroom as Chief Judge Paolo Lepri read the verdicts against 57 defendants, including former executives and officials. Many relatives broke down in tears as the sentences were read.
The former chief executive of highway operator Autostrade per l'Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the highest in the case after four years of trial and four hours of deliberations.
Castellucci’s lawyers said they would appeal, noting in a statement that as CEO, their client had relied on Italy’s leading engineers, and that a construction defect had not been detected by experts for over half a century.
“The suffering caused by the Genoa tragedy is immense and deserves respect. But the gravity of the event requires justice to remain based on individual responsibility, not the search for a scapegoat,” they said in a statement.
Also convicted were Autostrade’s former head of maintenance, Michele Donferri Mitelli, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The former CEO of the SPEA engineering company, Antonino Galatà, received five years and six months.
Defendants faced charges including negligence resulting in the collapse and manslaughter stemming from failures to maintain the bridge, which was part of a main route linking northern Italy with the French Riviera.
In all, 32 people were convicted and handed sentences ranging from 1 year and 11 months to 12 years. Others were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.
“I think it is important that responsibility extends beyond those at the top. Autostrade, SPEA and the Transport Ministry all had roles to play. I hope the state’s responsibility also emerges clearly,” Egle Possetti, who heads a committee to preserve the memory of the bridge victims, told reporters outside the courthouse.
“I lost my sister, her two children, my brother-in-law and even their little dog. That’s where my determination comes from — to make sure they receive justice and that their deaths were not in vain,” she said.
Shortly before noon on Aug. 14, 2018, a 200-meter (650-foot) section of Genoa’s Morandi highway bridge gave way during a rainstorm, sending dozens of vehicles plunging to the ground.
Images of the collapsed bridge were seen around the world and shocked Italians on one of Italy’s busiest travel days, as millions headed out for the traditional Aug. 15 Ferragosto holiday that marks the peak summer vacation season.
Prosecutors argued that years of maintenance neglect led to the collapse, and demanded combined sentences totaling nearly 400 years for all of the defendants. The defendants denied wrongdoing and say the fault was caused by a construction defect.
Considered an engineering marvel when it opened in 1967, the Morandi featured three A-shaped concrete pylons and concrete-encased stay cables.
Caruso, who represents the family members of three victims, said that the trial showed that warning signs about defects in the pylon that collapsed had existed for decades. He cited maintenance on the other two starting in 1993 that was never extended to the third.
“From 1993 onward, the problem was known. We had three identical pylons. Two had already shown the same defect, and no one seriously asked whether the third one had it as well,” Caruso said.
The current Autostrade chief executive, Arrigo Giana, issued a public apology Thursday in an open letter published in major Italian dailies.
“The actions and decisions of some people left indelible scars,’’ said Giana, who joined Autostrade as CEO last year. “Offering today the apology that was not made then is, for us, a moral imperative that goes beyond establishing legal responsibility and the course of justice toward the truth.”
Autostrade and its subsidiary reached a deal on corporate liability earlier in the proceedings, paying roughly 30 million euros ($34 million) in financial penalties. The agreement spared the companies from a trial as corporate defendants and potentially much harsher sanctions, including exclusion from public contracts.
The settlements were reached after the companies adopted new compliance procedures aimed at preventing similar accidents, and after victims were compensated.
A new bridge designed by Genoa-born Italian architect Renzo Piano opened in 2020, spanning a memorial to the victims of the Morandi Bridge collapse.
Barry reported from Milan.
This story corrects the number of convictions to 32.
Giovanni Paolo Accinni, lawyer of Giovanni Castellucci, former CEO of Italian highway operator Autostrade per l’Italia, is interviewed after an Italian court convicts the former CEO of Italy’s main highway operator in a deadly bridge collapse in Genoa and hands down 12-year sentence, in Genoa, Italy, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (Valentina Carosini/LaPresse via AP)
FILE - A vehicle sits short of a section of the Morandi highway bridge that collapsed on Aug. 15, 2018, in Genoa, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)
FILE - Cars are blocked on the Morandi highway bridge after a section of it collapsed, Aug. 14, 2018, in Genoa, northern Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)
