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The latest installment of EA Sports NHL series is out and it appears to be plagued by a very specific game-breaking bug that allows the Islanders to win the virtual Stanley Cup.
It's unknown how EA let the game ship with such a mistake, but The Hockey News was the first to discover it when their simulation of NHL 16 ended with the Islanders beating Dallas in seven games to take the championship.
The virtual Islanders dominated the Metro Division, finishing with 104 points, seven ahead of the second place Rangers. Once the playoffs started, the game started bugging out and apparently couldn't be fixed until the season was over.
In the post-season, the Islanders won three hard-fought series in order to take home the Stanley Cup. After a scare was put into the squad in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings, the Islanders emerged victorious in Game 7, moved on to sweep the Washington Capitals, bounced the Boston Bruins in seven and then won the Stanley Cup on the back of a Game 7 victory in Dallas. With an outstanding 19 goals and 34 points in 25 games, John Tavares took home the Conn Smythe Trophy.
According to an EA spokesperson, complaints have been pouring in from across Canada and Manhattan, with thousands of customers demanding refunds.
There's no word yet if EA plans to release a patch to fix the bug, or if they plan to release an updated version of the game that removes the Islanders altogether, which would prevent this from happening to any unsuspecting gamers in the future.
Sadly, I personally don't expect to get a chance to replicate the bug myself since at the pace I'm going, I'll be 87-years-old before I've finished Batman: Arkham Knight.