Topic: Sports games are great value for money & they get underserved hate online

Admission time!

Every year I buy both FIFA & PES.
FIFA is for visitors, PES is for myself & my close friends.

I stopped buying the WWE2K games a few years ago, as the drop in quality was evident. However, even if all these ‘sport games’ stay relatively the same- aside the roster, how do you change a sport?

I really like TLOU2, but there’s nothing better than winding down a day then with PES masterleague. A game is 10-15mins in general & I would argue that the majority of owners get more than 60 hours out of these games- whether solo or co-op.

Do sports games get criticised too much or should they be a continuously updated game as a platform.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Interesting topic for discussion!

I'm not a massive sports fan in terms of just liking sports and therefore playing them. I used to play a lot of ISS and PES on the N64 and then PS2 era with friends and really enjoyed it but these days, I've kind of lost the thread of it and prefer story related games or to relax, more chill games. However, I'm not the target market for these games and that's cool but I think there is a slight bit of elitism in these games especially because a lot of people buy consoles to play sports games and they tend to be more what people label 'casual'.

However, I think it is a good thing and they are a legit gaming form. If you can have RTS, FPS, Fighters etc. be recognised, sports games should be.

The only thing I am not keen on is the annualisation and business practices of some of the games. I'm obviously thinking of Fifa with some of the loot box malarkey and focus on that and the way that legacy editions are put out on Switch. With the annualisation, I'm not a fan but then I am not a sport fan so for me, having to upgrade every year for minimal change isn't something I get but if would expect if I were a sports fan that would make a difference to me.

So yeah, I think they do get criticised too much and the genre shouldnt get blamed for the dodgy business practices of the big names.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of grumbling about the sports games and their inconceivable popularity and ability to sell well year in and year out.
But at the end of the day, this hobby is all about playing what you enjoy and brings satisfaction, so I hold nothing against those who buy the annualized sports franchise game every year if they truly have a passion for it. I also am a proponent of the free market, so a product’s value is truly defined as what price people will pay for it. I can’t argue the cost of a $60 re-skin if enough people buy it at that price. Who am I to judge what others value? Perhaps they feel I’m foolish for dropping $60 for FF7R, a mere portion of a remake of an old game. 😄

That said, I do lament the fact that many daring and original IP’s die a painful death at the cash register because people don’t buy them, meanwhile FIFA, Madden, NBA2K, etc will sell in droves their update where it’s mostly the same basic game again.

So yes, as a gamer who values keeping an incentive going for studios to pump out new IP’s, pioneering content, and fresh ideas, I would favor a system where a sports game was sold once and then a DLC pack was put out every year with the new roster updates and perhaps a few upgrades rather than a whole new game for people to spend full price on. It doesn’t look like that will happen though because why would EA do it when people keep buying the games at full price again every year?

But I agree with you — as a value proposition, if you calculate the number of hours spent on a game divided by the cost, then FIFA or Madden is still a really good value proposition because people who play them get loads of hours out of them.

One of my goals this year was to play a Sports game in my attempt to broaden my horizons and not be so close minded. I feel like I can’t be judgmental until I at least try the genre. I’m considering buying NBA2K, but might also try The Show. Probably one of those two. There’s just never enough time to play all the games I want to! 😄

The problem for sports games is just that, they can't change it If anything it'd make more sense to have a live service model for these than the games that actually have them and just update the teams and add new features now and again. I'm a football fan but if I was going to buy one why would I ever buy the latest FIFA when the 1 year old version would cost me about £1. Same with F1 unless they add some new tracks in real life then that game is fundamentally the same too and I'd like to buy a new game but don't see the point.

Imagine the next God of War had a new story and main character but all of the levels, weapons, controls and enemies were exactly the same as the last game. That's how I see sports games, basically like Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros, one is FIFA 19 and one is FIFA 20, they look a bit different but seem very familiar

I got into sports game in the late naughties, in particular the Tiger Woods series, so I can see the appeal.

Once I was bitten by the single player bug (Arkham City and Skyrim in 2011) I lost interest in most sports games. I did buy Madden '18 and had a FIFA game but never played online. In all honesty other than golf I'm pretty bad at all sports games.

The one I used to love was Championship/Football Manager. I must have spent thousands upon thousands of years playing that series.

@carlos82 People keep buying them though, and EA would be mental from a business perspective to do it that way. On the other hand they do make more than enough money from ultimate team to subsidise that, but realistically I don't see EA or Fifa/NFL/NBA/NHL allowing that to happen. It is probably in the contact that games have to come out every year too, otherwise they could lose the licence.

@Fight_Teza_Fight I flip flop between the two football games every couple of years. This year I got Fifa when it came in EA Access. Use to spend way too much time playing them in the past. But yeah I think they probably do get unfairly critisced and usually by people that don't play them. So what if some people only play one game all year? If they are, let them be and enjoy your own games rather then hating on what others enjoy.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Sports games as in Fifa, PES, NBA 2k and Madden rightfully get slated online.

The fans have said it for years, FUT and its equivalents are the priority for the publishers and they have nothing to do with real sport at all. Franchise modes are nerfed to buggery and the model continues.

Once the particular sport has become monopolised by a publisher like Madden, Fifa or NBA 2k the quality has dwindled - in the case of Madden the Madden World Cup was won by someone not even using a quarter back!

The games do have loads of content, leagues and ways to play - they are value for money in that regard. But the once lauded modes are shells of their former selves. Master League in Pes used to be a true test of skill, grinding out 1-0 wins under intense pressure from great AI and building a team over 3-4 seasons before challenging for the title. Now you can literally start with Barcelonas A team.
Fifa and Madden both had great franchise modes and they have been torn apart in an effort to move players to ultimate team.

As the time between releases is only 1 year, the games don't improve and new key features are just features they took out 3 years ago. The games do not play like the real sport at all, once you are under a sport games spell you dismiss this - but again they are unrealistic. Of course they can be fun and taking a win online will always raise a smile but the gameplay is often infuriating with unfair animations and crazy scripting. I was watching my son play Fifa and he was 2-0 up, from that moment his players started to miss place passes and the opponents sped up, I watched this in real time and is a real problem.

I would say that the 2 best sports games I have played this gen are Rocket League and The Show. Rocket League has always been fantastic and the 'monetised extras' are not a game mode, they were tacked on 12 months in. The Show has a monetised mode but it is less less cynical than its peers. The Road to the show single player career is a particular highlight (which is likely to change in all honesty). The reason they are both so good is its honest genuine fun, it's obvious most of the effort from the developers was on the gameplay.

The Show is brilliant and probably shouldn’t be lumped in with NBA and FIFA as its online mode isn’t as money-grabbing. You get so much stuff free and it’s my most played game this year by a country mile.

Sorry for the late reply guys. Thanks for your input!

PES more so than FIFA lasts me pretty much an entire year.
FIFA is a £20 purchase, but I often pick up PES at full price. @Th3solution mentioned value proposition & I think that’s exactly why I’m perfectly fine with the yearly iterations.
I do think eventually these games will become platforms that are continuously updated, but it might prove difficult as top players like to keep their image rights.

Coincidently PSAccess just posted a ‘simulation’ of EURO2020 via PES
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=43aCHTTND7I