I’ve been playing sports games for over a decade now, and I’ve played them almost three times in such a long time. Whenever I talk to anyone about the latest Madden NFL or NBA 2K average entry, the first question I always get is, “Should I buy this if I already owned last year?” ?” I used to have to think more about whether I should advise a sports gamer to pick up the latest version, but over the past few years games have played out that way: over and over. Now, my answer is always, “The important thing is [this year’s tentpole feature] for you? How important is it to have the latest listings? “If even one of those is wise, my answer is ‘Waiting for sale’ or ‘Just played last year’s game. ” continued.
My friend Game informant Editor Kimberley Wallace recently wrote an op-ed about what it’s like to get stuck in rut sports games, and I couldn’t agree more. The Madden team has tried to focus more on its Franchise mode (after just one massive fan campaign, remember), the NHL series has implemented numerous gameplay improvements to create dramatic effects and the once vaunted NBA 2K franchise has felt more stagnant and more exploitative with each passing. Defense is always provided for sports games is they have a short growing cycle because they need to appear at the beginning of each season. And it’s a developer’s fair play in many ways; It’s unlikely that the developers make the final decisions to release a game every year. That decision may come from the licensee or the publisher.
The sports genre isn’t the only category, however, and EA Sports and 2K Games aren’t the only publishers criticized for their annual or fast release schedules. Other franchises, publishers, and genres that have come under fire in the past have sought to reduce or avoid this problem. Capcom was previously known for its approach to releasing new versions of Street Fighter titles. How did it solve the problem? It released Street Fighter V as a platform that has grown for several years. The old Street Fighter V was Almost my favorite entry in the franchise, especially at launch, but the development team continued to work on and improve it, proving that the series could break away from tradition and move into a cross-platform format.
What about other brands that have been criticized for their annual release schedules in the past? The ones that immediately come to mind are Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed has dropped the annual release method in recent years, instead giving players the big playing field in games like Odyssey and Valhalla, and then building on those worlds through games. huge expansions (both paid and free) in the following years. Not only that, games are often developed by different studios (or even multiple). Call of Duty has taken a similar approach, albeit continuing to release a new game each year; Instead of sacrificing an annual release schedule, publisher Activision rotated development tasks involving Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games. Even then, the Call of Duty franchise still has a year-to-year follow-up to Warzone.
The Assassin’s Creed series has succeeded in eliminating the annual release model
When you start looking at how the landscape of games across various genres has evolved in recent years, the yearly release approach seems out of date. Developers can now release major title updates that fundamentally change parts of their games long after release. Madden NFL 22 even took advantage of this ability by revamping its entire scouting system in Franchise mode a few months after its release. Why not apply that concept to multi-year projects? Why can’t I just buy a copy of Madden, then over the next few years, buy the annual list and feature updates as less expensive seasonal content? That will also prevent fragmentation of the online community, and will make it so when a new version of the game comes out after a few years, it really feels like the next evolution of the series, rather than half a dozen. our step. have become familiar with.
In the past, when talking to sports game developers from many companies, one of the highlights was that the sports themselves did not evolve year after year, making it difficult for innovation of games based on those sports. By transitioning to a platform-style approach, it will lessen the expectation that each year will bring drastic changes. Believe it or not, EA Sports has a game that works this way: EA Sports UFC 4. The EA Sports UFC series has traditionally run on a two-year cycle, with each entry building on progress made in past games while still innovating in modes like career and live sets. line. It’s true that the UFC doesn’t have defined seasons like the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA, but it shows that at least a biennial release schedule can match a sports title and even lead to a lot of changes. new and more evolved in that sequence from game to game.
Although it works under different circumstances, the EA Sports UFC series releases the game every two years
Of course, there are some factors that are beyond the control of the developers. As mentioned before, it is quite possible that multiple licensing agreements (especially exclusive/restricted ones) with established sports leagues require the publisher to release the copy. Annual iteration of the game. In addition, many of these annual games sell well despite criticism. For example, Madden NFL 22 was released in August and quickly become one of the best selling games of 2021, dominated as the best-selling game in the month of release. Likewise, both FIFA 22 and NBA 2K22 had strong sales in their month of release, coming in at #2 and #3 respectively, beaten only by Madden NFL 22, a one-time game more dominated as the best-selling game for the second month. rowing. These sales numbers come despite a lower than usual Metacritic composite review score, with Madden NFL 22’s PlayStation 5 score of 68.
For the status quo of the release schedule and change method, both the federation and the publisher of these games will need to see provable evidence that the change is necessary or superior in some way. some. Sadly, I don’t know how that would have happened without a test case from another major player in the sports video game space or an unusually low sales year for a top release. Until then, I worry we’ll be stuck in the same yearly schedule we’ve seen since sports games became big business.
It may be a while before we see a major publisher of the sports video game franchise adopt this method of publishing, but it’s increasingly clear that something needs to change. Abandoning the annual release model has proven effective and efficient for a number of non-sports franchises, and there’s a reason it could work very well in the sports game space. The question now is which major publisher or federation will be really willing to take that risk and potentially mess with the golden goose that annual sports titles have proven to have for decades. .
