With the collective attention of the majority of gamers around the world firmly set on the recent E3 conference, hoping for a glimpse of upcoming big-budget titles, one of the largest genres in gaming almost went by unnoticed.
One of the only publishers to devote any time to promoting their sports titles was EA, the powerhouse of the industry, showcasing their latest FIFA, NHL, NBA and NFL titles. The other major sports title to be promoted was the latest Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami, a reveal that was widely regarded to have been very underwhelming considering their recent loss of UEFA Champions League rights to EA.
The lack of screentime is a bit of an unusual statistic, when you consider just how many games were showcased in total at the conference, and that sports games were the 3rd most popular genre of video game in the USA in 2017 while FIFA 17 was the best-selling console game in the world in 2016.
The problem for the gamers who enjoy big-budget sports games in general and not just the latest FIFA, NBA or NFL title, is that there is just too much money to be made from those sports, irrespective of how good a game EA can actually make. FIFA Ultimate Team, a game mode within the best-selling sports franchise of all time, FIFA, generates EA almost $1-billion every year.
That is almost $1-billion on top of game sales.
To put that into some perspective, the entire Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise of the early 2000’s, a franchise that spanned more than a decade and remains one of the best-selling franchises of all time, managed to make just over a billion dollars in total. FIFA is so lucrative to EA that Forbes has estimated the FIFA franchise alone accounts for 40% of EA’s income and by 2021 will be a $3-billion industry.
All of this money means that the business behind EA, the shareholders and CFO’s and people more concerned with profit than videogames, is more interested in sports games that can implement models similar to their FIFA Ultimate Team, able to extend the income from a game much longer than just the initial sale.
Thankfully, for the gamers that want something fresh and long for the days of Dave Mirra BMX, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Tiger Woods Golf and the various Tennis games of the early 2000’s, amongst others, there is hope on the horizon. While EA have made it very clear they have all but given up on anything that isn’t one of their big 4 sports titles, smaller studios are starting to fill in the gap the big names have left open and are bringing a fresh take on the genre.
Session has been called the “spiritual successor” to the popular EA franchise, Skate, which rose in popularity due to its realistic approach to skateboarding while the Tony Hawk franchise become more and more unrealistic with every release. With each analogue stick controlling one of your virtual skateboarder’s feet, this Kickstarter-funded title from independent studio crea-ture Studios is rumoured to be releasing into the Xbox Game Preview program later in 2018 and promises to reignite the sport of skateboarding as a videogame.
Descenders is currently in the Xbox Game Preview program, and is an adrenaline-filled downhill mountain-biking game from RageSquid that boasts procedurally-generated levels, camera angles that keep you on the edge of your seat and right in the action, and a unique pathing system through each area that means you’ll never play the same game twice. Retailing for just R199 and with developers promising more content in the future, it is a great time to invest into this surprisingly addictive title with a fantastic soundtrack.
Golf Club 19 has been announced from the developers of Golf Club, HB Studios, an announcement made all the more exciting with the addition of the official PGA Tour licensing rights. For the first time since 1990, when EA first launched their PGA Tour franchise, EA have given up the official rights to the sport, as their last golf title, Rory McIlroy Golf from 2015 was a commercial failure and golf lacked the ability to implement a FUT-style mechanic for in-game transactions.
Out now on Xbox One is Tennis World Tour from BigBen Interactive, finally a tennis game for the current generation of consoles. With a highly detailed career mode, some (but not all) licences for current ATP World Tour players and promises of more to come, and what is widely regarded as great mechanics and animations, Tennis World Tour is a must have for any couch tennis fan.
This is just a sampling of what is available now and in the future, for those gamers looking for something slightly different than just what’s on offer from EA for their sports games. They are not made by large studios with huge budgets, but they are almost always made by a studio with a passion for the sport they’re simulating, something that always reflects in the final product. The best way to ensure the genre continues to expand outside of the EA powerhouse, is to support the smaller developers, maybe that way the bigger studios will realise the market they are missing out on.
