How Come? - Eski33's Blog - Operation Sports

Eski33's Blog

How Come?

Posted on July 16, 2010 at 06:33 PM.

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I recently commented on a blog that asked what happened to sports video games when I was struck in the head with "how come?"

The blog I read asked why sports video games have decreased in numbers over the past decade. Honestly, I never really thought about it until I read this blog but after I sat and pondered, I realized that sports video games have all but disappeared outside of the big sports which used to have several different variations of the game. There would be a licensed simulation (i.e. Madden, Live, etc.), arcade-style games (NFL Blitz, NBA Street, etc.) and then developers would utilize the sport in a sim-style fashion but not have a license.

I started thinking -- Why hasn't a developer designed a sports game that may not have licenses but could emulate the sport. For example, how come 2K hasn't created a football game with 32 teams, all with the city names (i.e. Detroit, Cleveland, Seattle, etc.) and just allow for editing of uniforms\, logos, stadiums and rosters that could be shared online. I know that they released All-Pro 2K8 but it didn't have 32 teams. Or why hasn't EA made a baseball game using this same thought process????

The reason I bring this up is that many of the original games such as the first few Madden's on the Genesis didn't have the NFL license. The game didn't even have names, just numbers. The game utilized the same team colors associated with each city. This game became the best selling football in history.

The same for NHLPA 93. No NHL license (although it had the NHLPA so real names were used). This game also had blood.

My point is that we avid sports gamers have put up the "where's the competition" chant for the past six years. I think I found the answer as to that. If 2K wanted to make a football game with innovation to compete with Madden, it can if they used some creativity. Why couldn't a developer make generic names that could be edited and sign a deal with a network (i.e. Fox, NBC, CBS, etc.) to utilize their on-air talent with a game that may not have the official league license?

I guess in my crazy mind that if a developer made a sports game that played realistically, offered a deep presentation, deep stat tracking, as well as the ability to edit everything including arenas and stadiums (since I know most hardcore sports junkies want the real teams), why couldn't it compete?

I firmly believe that the market is there for a developer if they want to take that chance. Look at the buzz that Back Breaker created and this game has zero customization. Too bad that the game didn't live up to that buzz.

Even if a developer didn't want to add some of the realistic extras, why can't someone re-create Baseball Stars, RBI Baseball, NHL Faceoff, etc. type sports games for the consoles?