14 DAY TRIAL // The developers at EA Sports who are working on the arcade oriented NFL Blitz said that they were not willing to include late hits in the game because they felt that it would send the wrong message about player safety and health.
Dave Ross, who is the project leader working on NFL Blitz, told Games Radar that, “When we started working on this game we partnered very early on with the NFL and talked to them about what it is we wanted to deliver. We played the old versions of Blitz with them and we talked with them throughout the course of this entire product development cycle and, at the end of the day, the NFL felt like the late hits did not meet with their take on player health and safety, and they asked us to remove it from the game.”
He added, “Right now we have big action and big, over-the-top gameplay, but once the whistle blows there are no late hits. They understand that it’s not a simulation and they understand that it’s over-the-top, but at the end of the day they really felt like, with the messaging that they have, and with their stance on player health and safety, that it was something that was better left out of the game at this point.”
Ross says that the removal of late hits does not affect the over the top American football experience that NFL Blitz is known for and makes sure that those who play understand that the moves are highly dangerous and should never attempt them in the real world.
The National Football League has recently made a big move towards a safer environment for players and late hits have been identified as the cause of important health problems later in life.
NFL Blitz has been revived by Electronic Arts in late October and its not yet clear when the new game might be launched and whether it will be based on a disk or delivered digitally.