Honest Question: Is the Sports Genre in Video Games Dead?

[br82186]

With another year of sports titles coming within the next two months and the fact that none of them have little to no hype around them, is the sports video game genre dead or dying?

When you have two football games that were released in 2004 and 2007 (NFL and All Pro Football) and a soccer game that was released back in 2019 (Pro Evolution Soccer) still getting play in 2023 there is an issue.

The NHL series has gotten no love from their community since the PS3 and 360 days, NBA 2k is leaning towards EA Sports territory by relying heavily on the pay to win mantra, and while the MLB the Show series is still good, they're showing cracks.

And this is not a bashing on any particular game, but with how the reactions to the recent Maddens, FIFA/EAFC, and NBA 2k it feels like we're getting to a point where consumers are pissed at games that were half assed during their development cycle.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

No, Madden, 2k, and FIFA (FC24) will be amongst the biggest selling games this year still

 

[Doomsday]

Online definitely ruined sports games. Everyone plays exactly the same way now.

 

[Hey_zeus]

I wish a big AAA title would go full GAAS. Live should come back as one.

 

[Nero Christ]

Those games will sell because there's very little to no competition in each of the lanes they occupy. This keeps others from trying to enter the lane because those games have built in cultural cache which takes years to interrupt, and the cost benefit isn't there for companies to try.

Basically, no competition means no innovation which leads to stagnation which leads to everyone knowing what to expect yearly, and that means no hype but still high sales cause it's the only show in town.

 

[Software]

They aren't dead. People still play them the main issue is that the genre has no respect for consumers and recycles content under the guise of "new sports season yall look all the rookies are in and we updated the overalls of the players "

But casuals keep buying because a lot of gamers who aren't what I'd call "hardcore gamers" only play mainstream shyt like 2k, madden, and call of duty. This is all they play so they'll spend money on it to be entertained.

 

[mozichrome]

no. a lot of people put in a lot of hours playing the modes these games offer.
the people online does not make up the opinion of everyone

 

[Duke Dixon]

I'm going to say yes and only because 3 sports get play in video games today. Really it's only Football, Basketball, and Soccer. Racing Aswell but there isn't as many titles as there once were.

I know there's still some games for these sports but they are no where on the scale that they used to be

Jetskiing
Snowboarding
Skateboarding
Volleyball
Tennis
Golf
Boxing
BMX
Hockey
Motocross

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

I'm going to say yes and only because 3 sports get play in video games today. Really it's only Football, Basketball, and Soccer. Racing Atwell but there isn't as many titles as there once were.

I know there's still some games for these sports but they are no where on the scale that they used to be

Jetskiing
Snowboarding
Skateboarding
Volleyball
Tennis
Golf
Boxing
BMX
Hockey
Motocross

UFC

 

[Canon]

Creatively and gameplay wise they all seem dead

Someone up there said it but everyone paid them the exact same way now when it comes to online gameplay.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Sports games seem to have sacrificed fun for realism and grinding. When I was a kid, I played almost nothing but sports games, but it was NBA Jam, Mutant League, NFL Blitz, NBA Street etc. that made me crave playing NBA Live, Madden, 2K and other more realistic games. Now, it's basically realism or nothing and that gets old fast.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Sports games seem to have sacrificed fun for realism and grinding. When I was a kid, I played almost nothing but sports games, but it was NBA Jam, Mutant League, NFL Blitz, NBA Street etc. that made me crave playing NBA Live, Madden, 2K and other more realistic games. Now, it's basically realism or nothing and that gets old fast.

I miss stuff like 1080 and SSX. The cool thing about sports games growing up is you would play whatever as long as the game was fun not just because you fien that sport and the players IRL

 

[Duke Dixon]

I miss stuff like 1080 and SSX. The cool thing about sports games growing up is you would play whatever as long as the game was fun not just because you fien that sport and the players IRL

That's what I was saying in my post. I never did those sports but I had fun spending hours playing games like

Virtua Tennis
1080 Snowboarding
SSX
Cool Boarders
Tony Hawk Pro Skater
SKATE
Jet Moto
Wave Race 64
Fight Night
Ready to Rumble
Mario Golf
Mario Tennis
Dave Mira Freestyle BMX
NFL Street
Blitz
NBA Street
Super Baseball 2020
W/e Hockey game

 

[ALonelyDad]

depends on your meaning, sales wise hell no. Hype wise, creativity wise? Yes. 2K pretty much has a 3 month shelf life before it dies

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

depends on your meaning, sales wise hell no. Hype wise, creativity wise? Yes. 2K pretty much has a 3 month shelf life before it dies

it is funny how you rarely hear about big new gameplay features for these games anymore, the marketing almost entirely revolves around who’s on the cover.