NHL 13 is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada published by EA Sports. It is the 22nd installment of the NHL series and was released on September 11, 2012 in North America, Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. The game was released on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, featuring Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux on the cover.[1] The game was featured at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 (E3 2012), which took place between June 5–7, 2012. The demo of the game was released on August 21–22, 2012, at the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store.[4]

There was a vote deciding which player would be on the NHL 13 cover. Anybody could vote on the player(s) they wished to see on the cover of the game. The vote started on March 29, 2012 with 60 NHL players in a single-elimination voting with two players in each match-up, and was closed on June 4, receiving over 25 million votes worldwide.[5] On June 20, Claude Giroux was named the winner, over Pekka Rinne at the 2012 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.[6]

An exclusive “Stanley Cup Collector’s Edition” was also released, apart from the actual NHL 13 game. The Collector’s Edition includes five random Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) player packs from the two 2012 Stanley Cup Finals teams; a Gold Jumbo HUT pack including legend Wayne Gretzky; and a boost pack featuring the CCM RBZ stick.[7]

Just like in NHL 12, Gary Thorne (play-by-play) and Bill Clement (color) provide commentary for NHL 13.[8]

This year, for the first time, two playable female characters, Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero have been added.[9] In NHL 12, users could create female characters, but there were no real-life players.[10]

On September 20, Gamesindustry.biz reported that NHL 13 had posted the best first week sales in the franchise’s history.[11]