This is the main thing along with microtransactions taking over.
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What the hell happened to sports games?
- Thread starter FLUXCapacitor
- Start date
This is the main thing along with microtransactions taking over.
Do people enjoy sports games for the sport? Or for their leagues, brands, and celebrities involved?
Would people buy sports games purely by enjoying the sport turned into an enjoyable gameplay mechanic?
I think we would have way better games and more variety. Monopoly is on the leagues only.
Would people buy sports games purely by enjoying the sport turned into an enjoyable gameplay mechanic?
I think we would have way better games and more variety. Monopoly is on the leagues only.
A lack of competition for 2K and Madden has created complacency amongst those games. Ppl keep supporting those games every year so there's no need for them to change much (even though there clearly is). I hope one day we'll see more competition in the market, imo that's the only way we'll ever get a new and improved 2K or Madden.
I think this is the key. Personally, I'm in it for the sport. I do love managing teams in NHL, MLB, NFL, etc, so the licensing is important to me, but I get nothing out of any of the online features, ultimate team and it's variants and all the other junk they focus on. I'll buy them every year, but never spend anything afterwards as I only play single player, offline franchise mode type stuff. The unfortunate reality is that I'm in the minority, on top of the fact that they make a killing off of the folks that are crazy into that stuff.
OP
OP
I personally enjoy sports games that are real life counterparts to the actual league/players. Gameplay is top priority, but I want it to also simulate the leagues and players. When All Pro Football 2K8 came out, the game play was fantastic, but it just couldn't keep me hooked because it wasn't the actual NFL. I think 2K could get away with creating an amazing football sim with very deep content creation mechanics. Livery editor for team logos. A very custom create a player. Stadium creator, etc. And then allow sharing and importing of entire creations made by a community. Basically people could just recreate the entire NFL.
I was big in sports games on the NES/SNES
After that I just stopped caring I've lost interest in sports overtime.
I wasn't even a big sports guy but I just had fun with Ice Hockey and RBI Baseball, Tecmo SuperBowl, Ken Griffy JR MLB, bulls vs blazers
I was playing these for the fun factor I didn't care about roster updates and patches. I tried to play a modern nba 2k game I couldn't even dunk in the game or have any fun with it.
The PS1 just the graphics lost me the fun factor wasn't there anymore I gave up on sports games.
After that I just stopped caring I've lost interest in sports overtime.
I wasn't even a big sports guy but I just had fun with Ice Hockey and RBI Baseball, Tecmo SuperBowl, Ken Griffy JR MLB, bulls vs blazers
I was playing these for the fun factor I didn't care about roster updates and patches. I tried to play a modern nba 2k game I couldn't even dunk in the game or have any fun with it.
The PS1 just the graphics lost me the fun factor wasn't there anymore I gave up on sports games.
Three things stand out:
1) The reduction of # of sports games. Every major sports games has been reduced to one title. Doesn't matter the Publisher or even exclusivity.
2) Ultimate Team. The goal is to no longer sell someone a sports game but a card game. Its the only mode that gets an update year over year.
3) The decline of arcade sports games (think EA Bigs series)
Those are really the big three. And Im not even sure of the third one.
Ultimate Team Modes has completely changed how sports games work in 2020. EA NHL is awful. There are 360/ps3 NHL 2k games that run circles around the animations in NHL 20/21. NHL 21 is literally the same game as NHL 20 with a couple additional dekes.
1) The reduction of # of sports games. Every major sports games has been reduced to one title. Doesn't matter the Publisher or even exclusivity.
2) Ultimate Team. The goal is to no longer sell someone a sports game but a card game. Its the only mode that gets an update year over year.
3) The decline of arcade sports games (think EA Bigs series)
Those are really the big three. And Im not even sure of the third one.
Ultimate Team Modes has completely changed how sports games work in 2020. EA NHL is awful. There are 360/ps3 NHL 2k games that run circles around the animations in NHL 20/21. NHL 21 is literally the same game as NHL 20 with a couple additional dekes.
I'm not one to downplay MTX, it's bullshit that shouldn't be ignored. BUT
I also don't think that they are the cause of your specific problems with current sports games, they seem to be more about how the design sensibilities have changed a lot. Simulation vs arcadey gameplay, choice of soundtracks, etc, these aren't results of EA's greedy shenanigans imo, not necessarily anyway.
It's a vicious cycle, really. Sports games make SO much money off mtx that they can't take the risks that create a better game. They've got the quick turnaround time of yearly releases, plus the fact that you can't do anything that will rock the apple cart. So the focus is on new ways to engage in the mtx modes and keeping players playing online and showing off their purchases. Even when the servers are bad (and in EA's case they're bad VERY often) millions can still mostly get a match whenever they want. And then go spend some money in the hope that it'll help them in the next match (it won't).
Everything else: innovation, significant improvements, offline modes, etc., is sacrificed to keep feeding the addicts.
Everything else: innovation, significant improvements, offline modes, etc., is sacrificed to keep feeding the addicts.
Kind of. I wouldnt play a bad sports game but i also wouldnt play one without official branding rven if it wad the greatest sports game. Im not a sports game fan though so i cant talk for others.
Try an arcade game when it's cheap if you want less special moves. Won't replace a sim but it can potentially be what you're looking for.
The og xbox and ps2 era is full of such great sports games. I miss the customization aspects too. I feel like the new iterations even in the 360 era were so graphics focused that budgets ballooned. Couple that with sports licensing rules and the fun gets drained. Yukes wrestling games let me make a wrestler with small arms and two different sized legs. After 2014 or so, if I remember, it's all cookie cutter.
I want my wacky. Give me baseball with big heads
I want my wacky. Give me baseball with big heads
I realize a lot of people don't like the direction sports games have headed, but when you look at sales, it's no wonder they're not changing their strategy up that much, because it works. Madden for example has a lot of hate right now, but so far Madden 21 sales improved 20% year over year compared to the previous version in the first week so far, looking like the fix franchise crowd isn't quite as big as you might think online.
Then take the NBA 2K series, for the last few years it has grown *massively* and 2K20 sold over 14 million units. That is huge. I agree sports games have issues, but ultimately the bulk of average consumers still enjoy them and I don't think they're nearly as bad as some claim.
Then take the NBA 2K series, for the last few years it has grown *massively* and 2K20 sold over 14 million units. That is huge. I agree sports games have issues, but ultimately the bulk of average consumers still enjoy them and I don't think they're nearly as bad as some claim.
I don't know why more publishers don't take a chance on arcade sports games,if a game is well made and fun to play who cares if it has officially licensed teams etc.....just make some more out there games......I'm sure someone could pull off a great football(soccer)game today given the tech available.
If you're not a fan, what does the branding matter then? I don't care very much about sports games myself, so I'm more likely to play some weird indie game about football than the new FIFA.
Or is this like, you're a fan of actual sports so that's why you care more about the brand?
Ultimate Team, for lack of a better word, is good
Ultimate Team is right
Ultimate Team works
They sell millions every year and realized the only thing they need to change is the microtransactions to take more money from the buyer. Sucks because 2k from 9-14 were really fun games but lately they haven't changed a single thing.
Sales =/= good game. come on you know this. These game are straight up copy pasted from the year before and buggy as hell. They remove stuff and add nothing but ways for you to spend money.
I dont play sports games but i watch them irl (my team mostly). I have a team i support, i know the teams and the players. Im already not very interested in sports games. Fill it with fake teams and fake players and i will care even less than i do now.
You kind of need licenses to sell your sports games on any wider level.
Licenses are extremely expensive, and distributed exclusively. Which leads to there being only really 2 companies in the business. Huge companies.
Also, just making a good "on the pitch" sports game is not enough to make the amounts of money these companies are in the business of making. Hence the big sports franchises have basically (d)evolved into gambling simulators with a game bolted on.
In a just world, Pro Evo would be THE football game. But alas....
Licenses are extremely expensive, and distributed exclusively. Which leads to there being only really 2 companies in the business. Huge companies.
Also, just making a good "on the pitch" sports game is not enough to make the amounts of money these companies are in the business of making. Hence the big sports franchises have basically (d)evolved into gambling simulators with a game bolted on.
In a just world, Pro Evo would be THE football game. But alas....
I know it sounds dumb but I think Rocket League is a better approximation of an actual football/soccer game than either FIFA or PES.
They didn't exactly say they were good games, just that people were enjoying them and think it's worth their money.
I don't think Madden has been a "good" quality game in a very long time, but there is fun to be had most years for my personal enjoyment. And in the end they are just video game products meant for entertainment.
Neither company handled things well once the NFL deal first started. MLB 2K (despite paying for the license and having competition) was a mess each year until they gave up.
Was it Fight Night Round 3 that had that amazing "put your face in the game" feature? I loved that game and that feature so much.
I recall playing NBA2k20 when it was given on PSN and I tried the equivalent of that feature and it was HORRIBLE. You needed an app that was shitty and the results not only took longer but they were very very bad.
I recall playing NBA2k20 when it was given on PSN and I tried the equivalent of that feature and it was HORRIBLE. You needed an app that was shitty and the results not only took longer but they were very very bad.
That and NBA Jam. Playgrounds is a pale imitator of those two series.
it really sucks how profitable GAAS'y sports games have become.
i wish EA/whoeever put out a separate non BS sports game out, but nobody would buy it. Everyone talks about how bad Madden is, but it just prints money year after year
i wish EA/whoeever put out a separate non BS sports game out, but nobody would buy it. Everyone talks about how bad Madden is, but it just prints money year after year
You can quite happily play FIFA and Madden and never even enter the mode which is pay to win.
That's how the sports genre started, and I would say a good half of the games during the 90s, at least, were trying to do their own thing without having access to licenses or likenesses.
Indeed, you wouldn't be able to have a meaningful discussion.
EA were making pretty good games then they figured out that they could get more money by manipulating kids through ultimate team than they can by consistently pushing out good games. Therefore, most of their development efforts are funneled into FUT, at the expense of everything else in the game. But to them, it doesn't matter because they're making a crazy amount of money pulling kids (and adults) into these pseudo gambling games.
I think the suggestion that you can't have a meaningful discussion about the design of these games, while also criticising FUT and EA is a little unfair. Yes, a lot of folks on ERA dislike EA and how these games are handled, but most of that distaste is well founded.
When I was working in industry, we'd often get people in called 'detractors' to give insight onto a game. People who had for whatever reason, didn't like a particular game or IP anymore, and those players often provided the some of the most valuable critique.
I think the suggestion that you can't have a meaningful discussion about the design of these games, while also criticising FUT and EA is a little unfair. Yes, a lot of folks on ERA dislike EA and how these games are handled, but most of that distaste is well founded.
When I was working in industry, we'd often get people in called 'detractors' to give insight onto a game. People who had for whatever reason, didn't like a particular game or IP anymore, and those players often provided the some of the most valuable critique.
They don't have one but knowing 2K, they would do exactly what they did to the NBA franchise and make it somehow worse than HUT.
Seriously, we need a new fucking publisher to make hockey games. We need someone other than EA or 2K or Ubisoft or Activision... but the sheer price to use the likeness for players and teams is stupid fucking high.
OP
OP
Well 2K now has rights to make non-simulation NFL games so ya never know, they could pull off a Blitz type game.