Fans of a sport who don't like video games based on that sport

M

m14

Member
I'm curious about posters who are sports fans but aren't interested in sports games. If this applies to you, what is your reasoning? Microtransactions and the yearly cash in releases likely haven't helped, but what other factors limit your interest in this genre? Did you play sports games in the past and believe the genre has stagnated? Would you enjoy a renaissance of arcade sports games versus the sim type games that are popular now? Or do you simply not feel that your favourite sport is well represented by the current video games?
 
Most sports games these days are just bad. Madden is a much worse game than it was on the PS2, it's a joke and has been for a decade at this point. NHL and NBA are much worse than they were on PS3. MLB The Show is the exception but the updates are lamer and it's more exploitative than it was on PS3 and PS4. The golf games this gen are good at least.

We also don't get the arcadey games we used to. NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, NBA Street, Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey or NHL Hitz, all these games were fun as hell and they're all gone.
 
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diffusionx said:
Most sports games these days are just bad. Madden is a much worse game than it was on the PS2, it's a joke and has been for a decade at this point. NHL and NBA are much worse than they were on PS3. MLB The Show is the exception but the updates are lamer and it's more exploitative than it was on PS3 and PS4. The golf games this gen are good at least.

We also don't get the arcadey games we used to. NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, NBA Street, Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey or NHL Hitz, all these games were fun as hell and they're all gone.
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The College Football game was pretty darn good. Way, way better than Madden. I think it helped that the team got to do their own thing.
 
I love basketball and really enjoyed the 2K games back on the Dreamcast, but I think the series has gotten overly complicated and all the monetization stuff is gross. I miss arcade games like the GOAT, Konami's Run and Gun.
 
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I think all us sports fans at one point liked sports games. I loved NBA Jam, Hangtime and ...on NBC and NFL Blitz is an all time classic. Before MTX infested NBA2K that franchise was pretty good year after year. The first Kobe and Jordan focused ones were awesome, but the novelty wore off I guess. Pro Skater and Racing games are still fun, but sports games just don't hit like they used to, but it might just be me.
 
i used to play games like fifa as a kid, but mostly because we would hang out at each others places and that's a good game to play against your friends, also doesn't help that the majority only played that kind of games. Now they don't play games anymore anyway and those games are not my preferred choice, or anyone elses that still plays, so we play other stuff
 
I am older so for me, sports games peaked in the 90's. Nowadays, I just find the controls unnecessarily complicated. I have tried using the "classic" controls in the NHL games, but it's just not the same.
 
I'm a Premier League fan (unfortunately a United fan), but you'd have to pay me to play FIFA/EA FC. Also a fan of baseball (lapsed but fell back in love after watching a Hanshin Tigers game while in Japan) but I don't care enough to buy The Show. I think the last time I bought FIFA and The Show was on the PS3.

I wouldn't call myself a sports guy though. I'm not gonna be out here catching every game and shit. Football/soccer and baseball is more of a I keep an eye on everything and watch recaps type of fan. I would consider myself a big motorsports fan though. I generally can't watch them live but I watch VODs of every Super GT and Formula 1 race.

Being a sports fan is too much work and I don't care enough.
 
Guilty_AI said:
I wonder if there's the opposite. Fans of a game based on a sport who don't really like the sport itself.
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On a similar note there were apparently quite a few American players of Fifa who had never watched a football (soccer) game before.

www.theguardian.com

'The perfect dorm game': how the Fifa series helped sell soccer to the US

TV and MLS have played a part in popularizing the beautiful game Stateside, but video games’ influence on the American soccer fan cannot be underestimated
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
The NHL games are bloated with so much crap that I can't stand them. Hockey is in my blood, I have family in the NHL, it's a major focus in my life and the games are just terrible. The best hockey game to come out in the last 30 years was the NHL 94 rewind they put out just a couple years back on the PS4.
 
Don't know if this counts, but back then I used to be super fan of WWF (WWE) as well as the games from that era (specifically "Know your role" for PS1 and one of the "Smackdown vs RAW" but forgot which one) - but after some games they got overly complicated for me, they had all of this button presses and analog movements that I didn't understand/enjoy so after that it went downhill for me. I don't know if it counts as I am not a fan of WWE anymore so I don't follow the sport
 
Most sports games seem to have controls more complicated than they need to be. I loved the simplicity of NBA Jam, but I hate to play games like NBA 2K.
 
Not sportsball, but i am not interested in playing the couple mountain biking games that came out in the last few years. Back when I was obsessed with the equipment, downhill domination was my jam. That was also a truly great game. But now, I'm just not interested. I will watch a competition of the real thing, though.
 
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Sports games come out every year, the show is a win for baseball, NBA 2K is really tough to learn but what beautiful graphics, the soccer crowds still has PES 06' online going, UFC and WWE last couple of games have been loaded. Madden lost me during the PSP/PS2 era.
 
I love MMA but the EA UFC games don't do it for me, Undisputed 3 is still the GOAT.

Like Hockey but don't play the NHL games, though they are fun if you have friends over

I've been a snowboarder my whole life, and I love a variety of Snowboarding games (prefer the more realistic ones) but I gotta be honest, there are some I really really don't like, and those are Steep and............SSX
 
I haven't been able to get into sports games for a long time. Always feels like too much of a time commitment for too little return. My one exception is sports management games like Out of the Park Baseball and Football Manager.
 
I love pool (pocket billiards), compete in real life and I'm pretty good at it but I don't like pool video games because either the physics suck or their settings don't allow enough customization to replicate proper FOV and perception.
 
I love following pro tennis but the last good tennis game was Virtua Tennis 2009. I have tried the handful of recent modern tennis games and they are not even close to being fun. The same thin happened with golf games. I love that sport as well and the old Tiger Woods games were a blast, but modern stuff has been boring and lifeless, with the exception being the latest PGA TOUR 2K25 which is actually pretty good.

I know that Midway is long dead, but I'd still take NHL HITZ 20-03, NFL BLITZ, NBA JAM, and MLG SLUGFEST over anything else modern in those game spaces. MLB The Show is pretty good compared to the other major NA sports franchises, for what that's worth. I watch MLB, NHL, and NFL but don't bother with the games for the most part.

I like curling and wish we could get a really good game for it lol.
 
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They're all sims now. Super tecmo bowl and Ken Griffey are what I wanna play. Madden does nothing for me. Way too many mtx also. Those fifa games were filthy with them
 
I imagine lots of NFL fans don't like Madden. I bailed 15 years ago so I guess I can't comment too much on current versions but the general player sentiment certainly isn't bringing me back.
 
I really like watching sports and going to games (i'm a diehard Met fan).

I have no interest in playing sports video games. If I want to watch a game, I'll watch it. When I want to play video games, I want to play immersive narrative heavy single player games.

Maybe when my son gets older I'll play Madden again for first time since college.
 
I like sports, i'm not a diehard like some people though, but will go to any game if i get a chance. Current sports game suck ass. Sports games peaked during the PS2/GC era. I really miss NFL2k and Blitz, NHL Hitz, NBA Jam and Street. We need more cartoony, and less unrealistic sports games.
I found this the other day, it's pretty fun.
If you like golf games check this out. It's a roguelike but it's fun too.
 
I am a huge badminton fan, and there are basically no dedicaded video games.
The best example out there is probably Nintendo Switch Sports.
NintendoSwitchSports_Badminton_Scr_03.jpg

But this is not a full badminton game.
I guess this is a rare case where a sport is hard to replicate as a video game ;)
 
MMA Fan but dislike the EA UFC games, they just click with me, I dunno if im too dumb to understand the controls or what, but ive effectively just abandoned even trying now.
My IRL friends all love to have mini UFC tournaments when theres a UFC numbered event happening, I dont participate so i just sit in the corner drinking.

Love Formula 1 but dont like the F1 games.......funny I actually used to like them when they were more janky, but something about them now just doesnt grab me like "normal" car road racing.





All the EA Sports BIG titles I loved......but all those sports I didnt follow.
NBA Street
NFL Street
FIFA Street
SSX Tricky

jitqmgq11qmc1.jpeg
 
Sadly Konami killed PES after 2021 so sadly that's it, that's the reason. Tried returning to FIFA/FC whatever but it's just not that good... and on top of that latest one is an annoying stuttering mess probably thanks to the shitty anti cheat system they have going on there...
 
Corian33 said:
I haven't been able to get into sports games for a long time. Always feels like too much of a time commitment for too little return. My one exception is sports management games like Out of the Park Baseball and Football Manager.
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Yes but Football Manager in the biggest time sink of all.
 
F1 is probably the standout for me, but frankly... there aren't any modern sports games I have any interest in, and I haven't liked any in decades.

NBA Jam/Hangtime? Baseball Stars 2? Neo Turf Masters?

Bring those kinds of sports games back and we'll talk.
 
TexMex said:
I don't follow any sports but absolutely love good golf and tennis games.
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Do you own Tennis Elbow 4? Easily the best tennis game. You need to download a mod (I'm playing on PS5) or two though which takes about 2 minutes. I played the latest TopSpin game yesterday and promptly deleted it.
 
Super Lemon Drop said:
I love following pro tennis but the last good tennis game was Virtua Tennis 2009. I have tried the handful of recent modern tennis games and they are not even close to being fun. The same thin happened with golf games. I love that sport as well and the old Tiger Woods games were a blast, but modern stuff has been boring and lifeless, with the exception being the latest PGA TOUR 2K25 which is actually pretty good.

I know that Midway is long dead, but I'd still take NHL HITZ 20-03, NFL BLITZ, NBA JAM, and MLG SLUGFEST over anything else modern in those game spaces. MLB The Show is pretty good compared to the other major NA sports franchises, for what that's worth. I watch MLB, NHL, and NFL but don't bother with the games for the most part.

I like curling and wish we could get a really good game for it lol.
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This is Tennis Elbow 4. Best tennis game I've ever played.

 
I'm a fan of football, hockey, baseball and basketball.

The only sports videogame I play is Rocket League. And I don't like soccer (or Nascar).
 
All Of Them GIF by MOODMAN


I LOVE ALL sports but the entire sports genre is GARBAGE right now focusing entirely on pay to win casino card games
 
One of the most diehard MMA fans on the planet. I haven't missed a single UFC card including every preliminary fight, since 2009. However I have absolutely no interest in playing MMA games. I platinum'd the very first EA Sports UFC, and 1 was enough for me.
 
I love wrestling, soccer and football, but i hate playing these games. I can't even say why, they just don't appeal to me. On the other hand i'm not a fan of racing, but love Forza Horizon.
 
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