The Rise and Fall of 989 Sports

Feature Article

Submitted on: 01/16/2012 by Phil Varckette

It was September 1, 1995.

If I recall correctly it was a cold and rainy day. I had been saving money for months in anticipation; It was Sony Playstation's launch. My father and I drove to a local department store that had no ridiculous linesorn campers. We just walked right in and there it was. My dad grabbed the system and I grabbed the game I had been longing for months: NFL Gameday. 989 Sports was born.

When we got everything home and set up, my dad and I decided to play a game. I couldn’t tell you what teams we were, but the one thing I do remember was how awesome the game was. It was a true leap in quality from anything we have seen in the past. Not only were the graphics amazing for their time, the gameplay was as well. Who could forget the thunder and lightning on a big hit while playing in the rain. Those memories will always stay with me.

989 Sports really had the market cornered. EA had missed the boat with their football game when the Playstation launched. Gameday was a critical success and they followed that up with NCAA Gamebreaker , NBA Shootout and NHL Faceoff. All was good for Sony.

Sony had to know it wouldn’t be too long before EA got in the game. The very next sports gaming season EA released Madden 97, NBA Live 97, NHL 97 andTriple Play 97 as their major sports titles. The competition was on.

As the next year went on, the competition was stiff. Both companies put out some quality games. Many people preferred Madden to Gameday and vice versa. The only game that 989 Sports didn’t have an answer to one of EA’s games was baseball. In '97, we were introduced to MLB 98. Met with critical acclaim, in just one year 989 had proven to be the better baseball game over Triple Play.

With 989 on a roll, it looked as though they were poised for a great future in sports videogames. We all know that wouldn’t be the case. With one exception of course, but we will get to that later.

On April 1, 2000, 989 Studios was merged into Sony Computer Entertainment of America, or SCEA as a first party development group, in order to get set for the then-upcoming PlayStation 2. Over the next several years Sony did continue to use the 989 brand for its sports games, the only problem was they were mostly terrible. NFL Gameday suffered a horrible transfer to the next gen system, along with NBA Shootout and MLB 2004. After the '04 iteration of NFL Gameday, the once proud franchise was canceled. Sony also canceled their NCAA franchises, along with their NBA franchises (only to be resurrected later asNBA 07 and to be canceled again)

When MLB 2005 was released, you could tell Sony had made some strides. It looks like, at this point, they were getting serious about baseball. As the years went on, we all know what became of the MLB series. It scratched, clawed and showed steady improvement year in and year out until it finally took over as the best baseball game on the market, a true testament to the dedication of the MLB team. What is now MLB The Show was able to survive, and prosper into a fantastic game today.

I will always have fond memories of 989 Sports. Some of my favorite games and gaming moments will be forever intertwined with 989. Its really too bad that it isn’t still a player today. Competition is a great thing. Unfortunately the odds of us seeing the triumphant return of 989 sports are slim to none. This now only leaves us with a brand lost with time.

Member Comments

# 1 abcabc @ 01/16/12 01:45 PM

wait a sec if the 989 team merged into the scea team, are you saying the 989 brand isn't around any more and you want that, or you want the people behind the 989 team to be still around? If the 989 was dissolved into the SCEA team, is there any info of who from 989 stayed vs left? was it evident or not that MLB the show was from the 989 team?

# 2 Jadakiss88 @ 01/16/12 02:17 PM

I remember Game day its the one and only game ever I had to take on my vacay back in 96' the thunder and lightning after the big hits was great. And the only defense everyone had for playing Madden was that it made you think more. Both games you needed to put together a good game plan its just one had slow tackling players that helmets rolled of periodically, the other hits that happen so fast and look so hard you could feel them.

I remember gamebreaker actually gave you the option for bowl games or a playoffs for the bowl season. Man you brought back some memories.

# 3 DJ @ 01/16/12 02:35 PM

GameDay 98 was the reason I went out and bought a Playstation. I loved that game, and as a result, wound up trying out the NHL Faceoff series and enjoyed that as well, even though I preferred EA's game.

It's a shame that Sony - and Microsoft - for that matter, don't produce more first-party sports titles. I know the SCEA NBA games didn't review well (or play all that great), but if you go back and look at some of the things that game tried to do, it wasn't all bad. The Life mode was a smart innovation, and I thought some of the presentation was well-done as well. I think the thing that hurt the NBA game was they could never decide if they were a Sim or an Arcade game.

I really wish GameDay was still around. I know it missed the mark when the PS2 dropped, and I'm not sure why, as I really can't recall playing any of the PS2 games aside from maybe the first one. What exactly happened with the GameDay series?

# 4 truintellectplaya @ 01/16/12 02:37 PM

Really was not up on 989 turning into SCEA because I only really cared for the PS1. After XBOX came it was a rap for Sony systems for me. Now, I will say since EA seems to not be what a lot of people really want they would be smart to find a way to get back into football.

# 5 sydrogerdavid @ 01/16/12 03:38 PM

I now see that it was pretty awesome to be able to play two different, quality baseball games. Triple Play and the MLB games were both equally awesome.

# 6 dcal @ 01/16/12 05:30 PM

Ahhh....competition, I wish it were still a part of the sports gaming landscape but exclusive licensing has destroyed that. 989 had some great titles. I prefered the Madden titles a little more over 989, but competition drove the sucess behind both of them.....it always does.

# 7 m1ke_nyc @ 01/16/12 05:57 PM

989 had some good games, if I remember correctly they made the NBA Shoot Out series, loved that series. Gameday was cool as well.

# 8 bigdaddykraven @ 01/16/12 06:02 PM

I remember playing Gameday on my PS2...went out and got the last one they released and they actually had a franchise mode in it that only lasted 10 years but they were really going in a great direction. I think if it wasn't for the exclusive deal with EA and the NFL, Gameday could have been at the level of MLB The Show, which would made Madden push harder to produce a good game without various freezes and 30 foot LB leaping abilities.

Honestly, first part titles should ALWAYS be better than third party titles because they can make use of all the specific hardware components and have an experience that is tailored directly for that system. Move Support, 3D, Kinnect, custom music, screen shot and video capturing...not to mention the performance of the games themselves.

I miss you Gameday. LONG LIVE THE SHOW!

# 9 TreyIM2 @ 01/16/12 07:17 PM

Ahh, Gameday. That series, initially, pulled my attention away from Madden. Loved the use of the right trigger (modifier) to lower your shoulder to either truck a defender or pop a ball carrier. I didn't like the user of thunder and lightning effects when playing rain games when using that trigger. I thought it was silly and cartoonish.

Another thing about the series is that they were the first to go polygonal on the PS1. I never got that game back from my cuz. He gave my jewel case back with Blitz in it after I let him borrow it. Lol.

At any rate, it is ashame how their sports games came to an end other than their MLB game which became such a remarkable game in The Show. Shootout was downright pathetic and only had 1080p graphics going for it in it's current gen iteration. Gameday coulda become something if it lasted but the lack of license would have hurt...yet, I think Gameday went kaput before the EA license deally. If that game was still around, Sony may have had a shot at keeping the NFL license open to all comers.

# 10 BCDX97 @ 01/16/12 07:20 PM

Anybody remember 989's NFL Xtreme? Let's just say it wasn't as good as NFL Blitz.

# 11 PVarck31 @ 01/16/12 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdaddykraven


	I remember playing Gameday on my PS2...went out and got the last one they released and they actually had a franchise mode in it that only lasted 10 years but they were really going in a great direction. I think if it wasn't for the exclusive deal with EA and the NFL, Gameday could have been at the level of MLB The Show, which would made Madden push harder to produce a good game without various freezes and 30 foot LB leaping abilities. Honestly, first part titles should ALWAYS be better than third party titles because they can make use of all the specific hardware components and have an experience that is tailored directly for that system. Move Support, 3D, Kinnect, custom music, screen shot and video capturing...not to mention the performance of the games themselves. I miss you Gameday. LONG LIVE THE SHOW!

You're right, they did have something going with the Gameday 04. To bad we will never know how it would have moved forward.

# 12 Fender178 @ 01/16/12 07:45 PM

I remember 989 sports. I own a baseball game for the PS1 MLB 2002.

# 13 jyoung @ 01/16/12 10:23 PM

Gameday and Gamebreaker were definitely responsible for pushing Madden forward in the PS1 era.

Gameday 98 was revolutionary for its 3D polygons and awesome NFL music.

# 14 bigdaddykraven @ 01/16/12 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreyIM2


	Ahh, Gameday. That series, initially, pulled my attention away from Madden. Loved the use of the right trigger (modifier) to lower your shoulder to either truck a defender or pop a ball carrier. I didn't like the user of thunder and lightning effects when playing rain games when using that trigger. I thought it was silly and cartoonish. Another thing about the series is that they were the first to go polygonal on the PS1. I never got that game back from my cuz. He gave my jewel case back with Blitz in it after I let him borrow it. Lol. At any rate, it is ashame how their sports games came to an end other than their MLB game which became such a remarkable game in The Show. Shootout was downright pathetic and only had 1080p graphics going for it in it's current gen iteration. Gameday coulda become something if it lasted but the lack of license would have hurt...yet, I think Gameday went kaput before the EA license deally. If that game was still around, Sony may have had a shot at keeping the NFL license open to all comers.

Read the Wiki, NFL GameDay 2005 did in fact come out. It was released on the PS1 only (I think they either cancelled the PS2 version to revamp it for the next year or it was EA's deal that killed it).

They were actually working on a title called Road to Sunday which got canned...sadly.

# 15 stlstudios189 @ 01/16/12 11:03 PM

MLB 98 was one of my all time favorites

# 16 Armor and Sword @ 01/17/12 09:38 AM

The first Gameday for PS One was a ground breaking title. I remember buying both Madden 97 and Gameday 98 and I played Gameday far more. The second version of Gameday gave us a full on season mode with stat keeping IIRC.

In any case once Madden 99 hit the shelves I never went back to Gameday. For it's time though it was a great football game.

# 17 SmittyD81 @ 01/17/12 09:55 AM

Actually, 989 Studios didn't take effect until Gameday 99, NHL Faceoff 99 and MLB 2000. So in-between calendar years of 1998-1999 is when 989 started to make the Playstation sports games and as we all seen, the quality decreased yearly until SCEA came back into the fold. The problem was that they only took back and redefined the baseball franchise.

Just to set the record straight, SCEA was making the games from 95-98 (when the games were the best IMO). Then 989 took over for the next 5 or 6 years until SCEA came back into the fold, creating "MLB The Show" series of baseball games.

# 18 maddmattrix @ 01/17/12 12:16 PM

Yup, I have some nice memories of GameDay. If I remember correctly, it was first to allow you to save instant replays. And the presentation, for the time, was top-notch.

Really wish the NFL would re-think the need to have the license cornered by one company.

# 19 Herky @ 01/17/12 01:06 PM

989 brings back a lot of memories when I was in college with their 1999 and 2000 titles. I loved NCAA Gamebreaker, NCAA Final Four, and NFL GameDay. I liked those titles better than the ones that EA put out at the time.

# 20 HuntTaker14 @ 01/17/12 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmittyD81


	Actually, 989 Studios didn't take effect until Gameday 99, NHL Faceoff 99 and MLB 2000. So in-between calendar years of 1998-1999 is when 989 started to make the Playstation sports games and as we all seen, the quality decreased yearly until SCEA came back into the fold. The problem was that they only took back and redefined the baseball franchise. Just to set the record straight, SCEA was making the games from 95-98 (when the games were the best IMO). Then 989 took over for the next 5 or 6 years until SCEA came back into the fold, creating "MLB The Show" series of baseball games.

I know, I was thinking the same thing. 989 studios killed Gameday and the other sports franchises. Not to mention them doing Twisted Metal 3 and 4. The author of this killed all his cred thinking that 989 made the original Gameday, do some research buddy. If SCEA would of stayed with Gameday instead of hand it to 989 it would be better than Madden today. 989 was a garbage company with title like NFL Xtreme.

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