What happened to the competition for sports games?

[Seedtype]

I’m not a game programmer so I don’t know for myself, but I wonder how difficult it is to program hockey physics into a game. It’s gotta be pretty hard otherwise we’d see more hockey games, yeah?

I would assume the biggest issue is that people want to play the professional teams with the professional players so I would think it comes down to paying licensing. Then whatever's left of the budget is the actual development. Combine with a annual release schedule, I think that's what makes the NHL games so frustrating.

I would love a free to play hockey EASHL or HUT. Just give me a lot of options to make uniforms and logos for my team.

 

[x Tame Impala]

How much would you pay for a hockey game that is strictly EASHL-based? I’d pay $20 or so for sure. If some company wants to make a game based around that concept they wouldn’t need any licensing and I’d bet people would play the shit out of it.

Create your Duster, unlock attributes/skill points by completing specific challenges, unlock cool gear through challenges, no micro transactions, no grind for bullshit. Charge me $20-30 each year and take the time to improve the game as needed.

Call it “Pond Hockey” or something and structure it like a men’s league. Have leagues D-A or whatever that you and your team progress through. Have drop in games be played on a pond, and have a Rat option where you can have an open lobby and free skate, shoot, pass, stick handle, whatever with your buddies too.

Have a “Beer League” where everything is all arcadey/NHL Hitz style or something fun. Maybe make it so you can chug beers and get slower or worse

I don’t know. I bet there’d be a huge market for that. There’s just such much bullshit tethered to EA’s NHL series and their practices in general. They’re either slaves to a yearly business model, which they created and are in total power to get out of, or this is deliberate by EA and scamming people out of millions each year by making a game with seemingly minimal effort and little desire or ability to take bigger strides.

It’s obvious to me that it’s the latter of the two, why would they charge us less if they can clearly see people will still buy these games for $60+ every year? I just figured there’d be some more pushback from other gaming studios, small or even large like 2K.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I mean I know in EASHL now have people who run leagues and stuff like that through it. Imagine whoever develops a game like that allowing league customizations and stuff so you can run your own league of 10-20-30 eashl teams etc. as a game mode. Have that, drop in, and just normal random team matchups would be fantastic.

Also make it cross play. I do think it would be a hit. Assuming the game play is somewhat good.

 

[Dolemite]

I know EA has this exclusive contract with the NFL so 2K has their hands tied. But for other sports, I do remember having choices during the Xbox/Ps2 days. You had EA's NHL (insert year), 989's/Sony's NHL Face-off, and Sega Sports' NHL 2K. EA and Sony were still making NBA games. MVP baseball, anyone? Even Microsoft had their own MLB game in 2003 (MLB Inside Pitch) to compete with MVP and MLB 2K.

EA Lost their FIFA exclusivity because they were pretty much copying and pasting each new version from the last one.

IGN called them out on this one where they copy and pasted their previous review because EA pretty much copy and pasted their games.

FIFA 21 Legacy Edition (Switch) Review - IGN

 

[x Tame Impala]

EA Lost their FIFA exclusivity because they were pretty much copying and pasting each new version from the last one.

IGN called them out on this one where they copy and pasted their previous review because EA pretty much copy and pasted their games.

FIFA 21 Legacy Edition (Switch) Review - IGN

That’s hilarious

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

In the past couple years I was enjoying PES games a lot more than FIFA, it is a shame their release this year was so ****ing terrible.

 

[John Price]

it was all brought out by ea

even for nhl 2k could technically create a sports game as there is no monopoly but they don't want to

 

[LukeSkywalker]

Having 2k back would be awesome!

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I miss those 2K games. They were the better option in the mid 2000s

 

[542365]

I miss those 2K games. They were the better option in the mid 2000s

I see this all the time and question whether people actually played those 2K games. They were decidedly worse than EA’s every year. EA games were the innovative ones(which seems crazy now, but definitely was true). I’d like to have 2K back because competition is good for the consumer, but their old games just weren’t up to par which is why they got out of the market.

 

[CBJx614]

It's not hockey related but 2k IS making a football game that supposedly is going to come out this year. The stipulation was that it's "arcade" football compared to EAs "simulation" football. I'd actually argue that EAs game is more arcade then simulation football at this point.

2K returns to making NFL video games, but not a Madden competitor

Multi-year deal for non-simulation titles ‘to launch starting in 2021’

www.polygon.com

 

[x Tame Impala]

I see this all the time and question whether people actually played those 2K games. They were decidedly worse than EA’s every year. EA games were the innovative ones(which seems crazy now, but definitely was true). I’d like to have 2K back because competition is good for the consumer, but their old games just weren’t up to par which is why they got out of the market.

Agreed. 2K couldn't keep up with EA as soon as EASHL came through in 2009. Those 2k games were not good outside of some QoL features in offline modes (that EA should absolutely be having).

 

[Beau Knows]

I see this all the time and question whether people actually played those 2K games. They were decidedly worse than EA’s every year. EA games were the innovative ones(which seems crazy now, but definitely was true). I’d like to have 2K back because competition is good for the consumer, but their old games just weren’t up to par which is why they got out of the market.

NFL 2K5 and NHL 2K5 were better than the EA offerings. EA buying the NFL license and coming out with the skill stick controls for NHL killed both franchises.

 

[JaegerDice]

I think most sports games will, ultimately, move to the live service model. And honestly, for some of the more niche sports, I think it will be a good thing.

There's no reason to put your dev team on an annual treadmill to push out a boxed product. All it does is limit the amount of time they have to make significant changes or innovations with a limited budget.

Launch each generation with an NHL game, establish it as the platform moving forward, then release the roster updates, gameplay tweaks, engine enhancements over time as updates.

As far as NHL games in particular, I'm not sure the stagnation is due to a lack of competition so much as a lack of direction. There's a pretty big divide between the reality of hockey (what you see on TV) and the fantasy of hockey (which is what the games are built around). 'Hero moments' in hockey are relatively rare. There's a lot of randomness in the game. Making a game that looked and played exactly like the sport on tv would involve a lot more fumbled passes, turnovers, neutral zone play, missed shots, blocked shots, deflected shots, etc. The whole 'I'm the hero screaming down the wing and snapshotting a gorgeous goal isn't really as common in hockey as we know it as it is in videogames... but that power fantasy is what players want from videogames. They want the ability to impact the outcome with their own skill, and to limit random chance. But that's not hockey.

The NHL series right now is basically what Need for Speed was for racing games. Trying to straddle the line between real world and fantasy. Ultimately people tired of need for speed, because if they wanted the fantasy they could go for Burnout and if they wanted simulation they could go for Gran Turismo or Forza.

 

[Jussi]

NFL 2K5 and NHL 2K5 were better than the EA offerings. EA buying the NFL license and coming out with the skill stick controls for NHL killed both franchises.

The head of 2K Hockey also said on the games unofficial forums at 2khockey.net that more and more of their staff was moved to the NBA game department every year.