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Asports video game is avideo game that simulates the practice ofsports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, includingteam sports,track and field,extreme sports, andcombat sports.[1] Some games emphasize playing the sport (such asEA Sports FC,eFootball andNBA 2K), whilst others emphasize strategy andsport management (such asFootball Manager andOut of the Park Baseball). Some, such asNeed for Speed,Arch Rivals andPunch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, and are updated annually to reflect real-world changes. The sports genre is one of the oldest genres in gaming history.[2]
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Sports games involve physical and tactical challenges, and test the player's precision and accuracy.[3] Most sports games attempt to model the athletic characteristics required by that sport, including speed, strength, acceleration, accuracy, and so on.[3] As with their respective sports, these games take place in a stadium or arena with clear boundaries.[3] Sports games often provide play-by-play and color commentary through the use of recorded audio.[3]
Sports games sometimes make use of differentmodes for different parts of the game. This is especially true in games aboutAmerican football such as theMadden NFL series, where executing a pass play requires six different gameplay modes in the span of approximately 45 seconds.[3] Sometimes, other sports games offer a menu where players may select a strategy while play is temporarily suspended.[3]Association football video games sometimes shift gameplay modes when it is time for the player to attempt a penalty kick, a free shot at goal from the penalty spot, taken by a single player.[3] Some sports games also require players to shift roles between the athletes and the coach or manager. These mode switches are more intuitive than other game genres because they reflect actual sports.[3]
Older 2D sports games sometimes used an unrealistic graphical scale, where athletes appeared to be quite large in order to be visible to the player. As sports games have evolved, players have come to expect a realistic graphical scale with a high degree of verisimilitude.[3] Sports games often simplify the game physics for ease of play, and ignore factors such as a player's inertia.[3] Games typically take place with a highly accurate time-scale, although they usually allow players to play quick sessions with shorter game quarters or periods.[3]
Sports games sometimes treat button-pushes as continuous signals rather than discrete moves, in order to initiate and end a continuous action. For example, football games may distinguish between short and the long passes based on how long the player holds a button. Golf games often initiate the backswing with one button-push, and the swing itself is initiated by a subsequent push.[3]
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Arcade sports games have traditionally been very populararcade games. The competitive nature of sports lends itself well to the arcades where the main objective is usually to obtain ahigh score. The arcade style of play is generally more unrealistic and focuses on a quicker gameplay experience. However the competitive nature of sports and being able to gain a high score while competing against friends for free online, has made online sports games very popular. Examples of this include theNFL Blitz andNBA Jam series.[4][5]
Simulation games are more realistic than arcade games, with the emphasis being more on realism than on how fun the game is to pick up and play based from the competitive seasons of each sport. The simulation-style tends to be slower and more accurate with normal rules while arcade games tend to be fast and can have all kinds of ad-hoc rules and ideas thrown in, especially pre-2000s.[6] Examples of this include theEA Sports FC,NHL,EA Sports WRC,F1,MotoGP,PGA Tour,PGA Tour 2K,MLB The Show,Madden NFL,EA Sports College Football andNBA 2K series.
A sports management game puts the player in the role ofteam manager. Whereas some games are played online against other players, management games usually pit the player againstAI controlled teams in the sameleague. Players are expected to handle strategy, tactics, transfers, and financial issues. Various examples of these games can be found in thesports management category.
SinceTrack & Field (1983), variousmulti-sport video games have combined multiple sports into a single game.Wii Sports andNintendo Switch Sports are recent examples. A popular sub-genre areOlympic video games, includingTrack & Field and other similar titles. Multi-sport tournaments are becoming the basis for computer games.
Sports video games have origins in sportselectro-mechanical games (EM games), which werearcade games manufactured using a mixture of electrical and mechanical components, foramusement arcades between the 1940s and 1970s. Examples includeboxing games such asInternational Mutoscope Reel Company'sK.O. Champ (1955),[7]bowling games such asBally Manufacturing'sBally Bowler andChicago Coin'sCorvette from 1966,baseball games such asMidway Manufacturing'sLittle League (1966) and Chicago Coin'sAll Stars Baseball (1968),[8] otherteam sport games such asTaito'sCrown Soccer Special (1967) andCrown Basketball (1968),[9][10] andair hockey type games such asSega'sMotoPolo (1968)[11] andAir Hockey (1972) byBrunswick Billiards.[12]
The earliest sports video game dates backs to 1958, whenWilliam Higinbotham created a game calledTennis for Two, a competitivetwo-playertennis game played on anoscilloscope. The players would select the angle at which to put their racket, and pressed a button to return it. Although this game was incredibly simple, it demonstrated how anaction game (rather than previous puzzles) could be played on a computer.[13] Video games prior to the late 1970s were primarily played on universitymainframe computers undertimesharing systems that supported multiplecomputer terminals on school campuses. The two dominant systems in this era wereDigital Equipment Corporation'sPDP-10 andControl Data Corporation'sPLATO. Both could only display text, and not graphics, originally printed onteleprinters andline printers, but later printed on single-colorCRT screens.
Ralph Baer developedTable Tennis for the firstvideo game console, theMagnavox Odyssey, released in 1972. While the console had other sports-themed game cards, they required the use of television overlays while playing similarly toboard games orcard games.Table Tennis was the only Odyssey game that was entirely electronic and did not require an overlay, introducing a ball-and-paddle game design that showcased the potential of the new video game medium. This provided the basis for the first commercially successful video game,Pong (1972), released as anarcade video game byAtari, Inc.[7]
Numerous ball-and-paddle games that were either clones or variants ofPong were released for arcades in 1973. Atari themselves released a four-playercooperative multiplayer variant,Pong Doubles (1973), based ontennis doubles.[14] In the United States, the best-sellingarcade video game of 1973 wasPong, followed by several of its clones and variants, includingPro Tennis fromWilliams Electronics,Winner fromMidway Manufacturing,Super Soccer andTennis Tourney fromAllied Leisure (later called Centuri), andTV Tennis fromChicago Coin.[15]
In Japan, arcade manufacturers such as Taito initially avoided video games as they foundPong to be simplistic compared to more complex EM games, but after Sega successfully tested-marketedPong in Japan, Sega and Taito released the clonesPong Tron andElepong, respectively, in July 1973,[16] before the official Japanese release ofPong by Atari Japan (later part ofNamco) in November 1973.[17]Tomohiro Nishikado's four-playerPong variantSoccer was released by Taito in November 1973,[16][18] with a green background to simulate anassociation football playfield[19] along with a goal on each side.[16] Another Taito variant,Pro Hockey (1973), set boundaries around the screen and only a small gap for the goal.[20]
Tomohiro Nishikado wanted to move beyond simple rectangles to character graphics, resulting in his development of abasketball game,[16] Taito'sTV Basketball, released in April 1974.[17][21] It was the earliest use of charactersprites to represent human characters in a video game.[22] While the gameplay was similar to earlier ball-and-paddle games,[16] it displayed images both for the players and the baskets, and attempted to simulatebasketball. Each player controls two team members, aforward and aguard; the ball can be passed between team members before shooting, and the ball has to fall into the opposing team's basket to score a point.[23][24] The game was released in North America by Midway asTV Basketball, selling 1,400arcade cabinets in the United States, a production record for Midway up until they releasedWheels the following year.[25][26]Ramtek later releasedBaseball in October 1974,[17] similarly featuring the use of character graphics.[27]
In 1975,Nintendo releasedEVR-Race, ahorse racingsimulation game with support for up to six players.[28] It was a mixture between a video game and an electro-mechanical game, and played back video footage from avideo tape.[29]
After the market became flooded withPong clones, thePong market crashed around the mid-1970s.[16] Sports video games would not regain the same level of success until the 1980s.[30]
In 1976, Sega released an earlycombat sport game,Heavyweight Champ, based onboxing and now considered the firstfighting game.[31]
In March 1978, Sega releasedWorld Cup, anassociation football game with atrackball controller.[32][33][34] In October 1978, Atari releasedAtari Football,[35] which is considered to be the first video game to accurately emulateAmerican football;[36] it also popularized the use of a trackball, with the game's developers mentioning it was inspired by an earlier Japanese association football game that used a trackball.[37][38]Atari Football was the second highest-earningarcade video game of 1979 in the United States, below only Taito'sshoot 'em up blockbusterSpace Invaders (1978), thoughAtari Football was the only sports game among the top ten highest-earners.[39]
In 1980,Mattel'sBasketball for theIntellivision was the first basketball video game to be licensed by theNational Basketball Association (NBA).[26] On home computers,Microsoft'sOlympic Decathlon (1980) was one of the first sports-related programs to mix game and simulation elements, and was an early example of an Olympic track-and-field game.[40] The first sports simulation game was most likely eitherComputer Baseball orComputer Quarterback, both released in 1981. The first association football management simulation,Football Manager, was released for theZX Spectrum computer in 1982.
Between 1981 and 1983, theAtari's VCS (2600) and Mattel's Intellivision waged a series of high-stakes TV advertising campaigns promoting their respective systems, marking the start of the firstconsole wars. Atari prevailed inarcade games and had a larger customer base due to its lower price, while Intellivision touted its visually superior sports games. Sports writerGeorge Plimpton was featured in the Intellivision ads,[41] which showed the parallel games side by side. Both Atari and Intellivision fielded at least one game for baseball, American football, hockey, basketball and association football. Atari's sports games includedActivision Tennis (1981).
Sports video games experienced a resurgence from 1983. As thegolden age of arcade video games came to an end, arcade manufacturers began looking for ways to reinvigorate thearcade video game industry, so they began turning to sports games. The arcade industry began producing sports games at levels not seen since the days ofPong and its clones, which played a role in the recovery of the arcade market by the mid-1980s.[30] There were initially high expectations forlaserdisc games to help revive the arcade industry in 1983, but it was instead non-laserdisc sports games that ended up being the most well-received hits atamusement arcade shows by late 1983.[42][43]
In March 1983, Sega releasedAlpha Denshi's arcade gameChampion Baseball, which became a blockbuster success in Japanese arcades,[44][45] with Sega comparing its impact on Japanese arcades to that ofSpace Invaders.[46]Champion Baseball was a departure from the "space games" and "cartoon"action games that had previously dominated the arcades,[47] and subsequently served as the prototype for laterbaseball video games.[44][45] It had a split-screen format, displaying theplayfield from twocamera angles, one from the outfield and another close-up shot of the player and batter, while also giving players the option of selecting relief pitchers or pinch hitters, while an umpire looks on attentively to make the game calls.[46][48] The game also had digitized voices for the umpire,[45] and individual player statistics.[44][45]
Sports games became more popular across arcades worldwide with the arrival ofKonami'sTrack & Field,[30] known asHyper Olympic in Japan, introduced in September 1983.[42] It was anOlympic-themedathletics game that had multipleOlympictrack-and-field events (including the100-meter dash,long jump,javelin throw,110-meter hurdles,hammer throw, andhigh jump) and allowed up to four players to compete.[49] It had a horizontalside-scrolling format, depicting one or two tracks at a time, a large scoreboard that displayed world records and current runs, and a packed audience in the background.[30] Despite the industry's hype forlaserdisc games at the time,Track & Field became the most well-received game at theAmusement Machine Show (AM Show) in Tokyo[42] and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in the United States.[43] The game sold 38,000 arcade units in Japan,[50] became one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 in the United States,[51] and the top-grossingarcade game of 1984 in the United Kingdom.[52] It was also the basis for an organizedvideo game competition that drew more than a million players in 1984.[53][54] The success ofTrack & Field spawned other similarOlympic video games.[52]
Numerous sports video games were subsequently released in arcades afterTrack & Field, includingAmerican football games such as10-Yard Fight (1983) byIrem andGoal to Go (1984) byStern Electronics,boxing video games such as Nintendo'sPunch-Out! (1984),martial arts sportsfighting games such asTechnōs Japan'sKarate Champ (1984),[30][54] theNintendo VS. System titlesVS. Tennis andVS. Baseball, Taito'sgolf gameBirdie King II, andData East'sTag Team Wrestling.[54]10-Yard Fight in 1983 had acareer mode, where the player progresses fromhigh school, tocollege,professional,playoff, andSuper Bowl, as the difficulty increases with each step.[55] Irem'swaterskiing gameTropical Angel had a femaleplayer character,[56][57] and was one of the two most well-received games at the September 1983 AM Show (along withHyper Olympic) for its graphics and gameplay.[42] Another sports game with female player characters was Taito'sJoshi Volleyball (Big Spikers),[58] which topped the Japanesetable arcade cabinet chart in December 1983.[59]Kaneko'sRoller Aces was aroller skating game played from a third-person perspective,[60] whileTechnōs Japan released thewrestling gameTag Team Wrestling.[61]
In the field ofassociation football games, Alpha Denshi'sExciting Soccer (1983) featured digitized voices[62] and a top-down overhead perspective, which was later popularized byTehkan World Cup (1985) fromTehkan (later Tecmo).[63]Tehkan World Cup was amultiplayer association football game with atrackball controller,[64] where a button was used for kicking the ball and the trackball used for the direction and speed of the shot, with gameplay that was fairly realistic.[65] It was a landmark title for association football games, considered revolutionary for its trackball control system, its top-down perspective that allows players to see more of the pitch,[66] and its trackball-basedgame physics.[67][68] It provided the basis for laterassociation football games such asMicroProse Soccer (1988) and theSensible Soccer series (1992 debut).[67][68][69]
Several sportslaserdisc games were released for arcades in 1984, includingUniversal'sTop Gear which displayed 3D animated race car driving,[70] while Sega'sGP World[71] and Taito'sLaser Grand Prix[72] displayed live-action footage. Sega also produced abullfighting game,Bull Fight,[73] and a multiple-watersports gameWater Match (published byBally Midway), which included swimming,kayaking andboat racing;[74] while Taito released afemale sports game based onhigh-school track & field,The Undoukai,[75] and adirt track racing gameBuggy Challenge, with abuggy.[76] Other dirt racing games from that year weredirt bike games:Nintendo'sExcitebike[77] andSNK'smotocross gameJumping Cross[broken anchor].[78] Nintendo also released a four-playerracquet sport game,VS. Tennis (theNintendo VS. System version ofTennis).[79]
That same year,ice hockey games were also released: Alpha Denshi'sBull Fighter[80] and Data East'sFighting Ice Hockey.[81] Data East also released alawn sports gameHaro Gate Ball, based oncroquet,[82] whileNichibutsu released a game based onroller derby,Roller Jammer.[83] Meanwhile, Technos Japan released a game based onsumo wrestling,Syusse Oozumou,[84] and the firstmartial arts combat-sport game,Karate Champ, considered one of the most influential fighting games.[85][86] In 1985, Nintendo released anarm wrestling game,Arm Wrestling,[87] while Konami released atable tennis game that attempted to accurately reflect the sport,Konami's Ping Pong.[88]
On home consoles,Mattel releasedIntellivision World Series Baseball (IWSB), designed byDon Daglow andEddie Dombrower, in late 1983.[89] It is considered the earliest sports video game to use multiple camera angles to show the action in a manner resembling asports television broadcast. Earlier sports games prior to this had displayed the entire field on screen, or scrolled across static top-down fields to show the action.IWSB mimicked television baseball coverage by showing the batter from a modified "center field" camera, thebaserunners in corner insets and defensive plays from a camera behind the batter.[90] It was also one of the first sports video games to feature audibly speaking digitized voices (as opposed to text), using the MattelIntellivoice module. The game was sophisticated for its time, but was a commercial failure, released around the time of thevideo game crash of 1983 when the North American home video game market collapsed.[91]
Nintendo released a series of highly successful sports games for theNintendo Entertainment System console and the arcadeNintendo VS. System, starting withBaseball (1983) andTennis (1984). They played an important role in thehistory of the Nintendo Entertainment System, as they were the earliest NES games released in North America, initially in the arcades and then with the console's launch.[92] Nintendo's arcade versionVS. Baseball (1984) was competing with Sega's earlier hitChampion Baseball in the arcades.[93]
On home computers,Track & Field spawned similar hit Olympic games for computer platforms,[52] such asOcean Software'sDaley Thompson's Decathlon (1984).[94]Electronic Arts produced their first sports game for home computers, the basketball titleDr. J and Larry Bird Go One on One (1983),[95] which was the first licensed sports game based on the names and likenesses of famous athletes; the inclusion of famous real world athletes would become one of the most important selling points for sports games.[96]One on One became Electronic Arts' best-selling game, and the highest-selling computer sports game, having sold 400,000 copies by late 1988.[97]
In the late 1980s,basketball video games gained popularity in arcades. Konami'sDouble Dribble (1986) featured colorful graphics, five-on-five gameplay, cutaway animations forslam dunks, and a digitized version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" theme.[26] It was considered the most realistic basketball game upon release, with fast-paced action, detailed players, a large side-scrolling court, innovative cinematic dunks, and detailed sound effects, beginning a trend where presentation would play an increasingly important role in sports games.[98]Magic Johnson's Fast Break (1988) byArcadia Systems had detailed characters and audio clips ofMagic Johnson's voice. Midway, who had not released a basketball game in sixteen years since Taito'sTV Basketball in 1974, releasedArch Rivals (1989), a two-on-two game featuring large players with distinct looks, abasketball court, a crowd,cheerleaders, four periods, the ability to rough up an opponent, and big dunks capable ofbackboard shattering.[26] Konami'sPunk Shot (1990) is an arcade basketball game with an element of violence, allowing players to physically attack each other, whichCU Amiga magazine compared to the filmRollerball (1975).[99]
The success of theNintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America led to the platform becoming a major platform forAmerican sports video games. Basketball games included a port ofDouble Dribble, with a halo mechanic signifying the optimum release for shots, andTecmo NBA Basketball (1992).American football video games includedTecmo Bowl (1987), which was ported to the NES with theNFL Players Association license, andTecmo Super Bowl (1991), which introduced a season mode with nearly the entireNFL roster.[100]Tecmo Super Bowl is considered to be one of the greatest[101][102] and most influential games of all time, as it was the first mainstream sports video game with both the league and player association licenses,[103] withESPN ranking it the greatest sports video game of all time.[104] Sega also developed American football games for their competingMaster System console,Great Football in 1987[100] andAmerican Pro Football (Walter Payton Football) in 1989, the latter very well received by critics at the time.[105][106]
The late 1980s is considered the "Golden Age" ofbaseball video games.Namco'sR.B.I. Baseball (1986) and theAtlus titleMajor League Baseball (1988) for the NES were the first fully licensed baseball video games.SNK'sBaseball Stars (1989) was a populararcade-style NES game, whileJaleco's NES titleBases Loaded (1987) was asimulation game with statistics.[100] In 1988, EA releasedEarl Weaver Baseball, developed by Don Daglow and Eddie Dombrower, which for the first time combined a highly accurate simulation game with high quality graphics. This was also the first game in which an actualbaseball manager provided the computerAI. In 1996Computer Gaming World namedEWB the 25th of its Best 150 Games of All Time, the second highest ranking for any sports game in that 1981–1996 period (afterFPS Football).[107]
The 1990s began in the16-bit era, as a wave of fourth generation video game consoles were created to handle more complex games and graphics. TheSega Genesis/Mega Drive in particular became renowned for its sports video games, as it was more powerful than the NES and with Sega targeting an older audience than Nintendo's typically younger target demographic at the time.Basketball video games included EA'sLakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1991), which launched theNBA Live series.World Series Baseball (1994) introduced the "catcher-cam" perspective, launching theWorld Series Baseball series and becoming the first game in the Sega Sports line.[100]
In 1989,Electronic ArtsproducerRichard Hilleman hired GameStar'sScott Orr to re-designJohn Madden Football for the fast-growing Sega Genesis. In 1990, Orr and Hilleman releasedMadden Football. They focused on producing a head-to-head two-player game with an intuitiveinterface and responsive controls. Electronic Arts had only expected to sell around 75,000 units, but instead the title sold around 400,000 units.[108]
In 1990, Taito releasedFootball Champ, an association football game that allowsup to four players in both competitive andcooperative gameplay. It also let players perform a number of actions, including a back heel,power kick, high kick,sliding tackle, super shot, andfouling other players (kicking, punching, and pulling shirts), which the player can get away with if thereferee isn't looking, or get a yellow or redpenalty card for if he is.[109] In 1991, the American football gameTecmo Super Bowl was the first mainstream sports game to feature both the league and player association licenses of the sport it emulated; previous titles either had one license or the other, butTecmo Super Bowl was the first to feature realNFL players on real teams.[110]
Orr joined EA full-time in 1991 after the success ofMadden on the Sega Genesis, and began a ten-year period of his career where he personally supervised the production of theMadden Football series. During this time EA formedEA Sports, a brand name used for sports games they produced. EA Sports created several ongoing series, with a new version released each year to reflect the changes in the sport and its teams since the previous release.
Sega launched its own competingNFL series on the Sega Genesis. The gameplay of Sega's earlier 1987 Master System titleGreat Football (1987) was the basis forJoe Montana Football (1991), developed by EA and published by Sega for the Genesis. Sega then released their own sequel without EA's involvement,Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football (1991), which became the first American football game with audio commentary. After Sega acquired the NFL license, they shortened the title toNFL Sports Talk Football Starring Joe Montana, which later became known as Sega'sNFL series. Due to strong competition fromMadden, the series was cancelled in 1997.[100]
Licensed basketball games began becoming more common by the early 1990s, including Sega'sPat Riley Basketball (1990) andAcme Interactive'sDavid Robinson's Supreme Court (1992) for the Sega Genesis, andHudson Soft'sBill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball (1991) for theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). EA followedJordan vs. Bird: One on One (1988) withLakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1989), the latter ported to the Genesis in 1991, which added more simulation aspects to the subgenre.[26] In the arcades, Midway followedArch Rivals withNBA Jam (1993), which introduceddigitized sprites similar to theirfighting gameMortal Kombat (1992), combined with a gameplay formula similar toArch Rivals.[111] In its first twelve months of release,NBA Jam generated over$1 billion to become thehighest-grossing arcade sports game of all time.[112]
FIFA International Soccer (1993), the first game in EA'sFIFA series ofassociation football video games, released on theSega Mega Drive and became the best-sellinghome video game of 1993 in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the top-down perspective of earlier association football games,FIFA introduced anisometric perspective to the genre.International Superstar Soccer (1994), the first game inKonami'sInternational Superstar Soccer (ISS) series, released for the SNES. A rivalry subsequently emerged between theFIFA andISS franchises.[113][114]
In the 1990s,3D graphics were introduced in sports games. Early uses of flat-shaded polygons date back to 1991, with home computer games such as4D Sports Boxing andWinter Challenge.[115] However, it was not until the mid-1990s that 3D polygons were popularized in sports games.
Sega's arcade titleVirtua Striker (1994) was the firstassociation football game to use 3D graphics, and was also notable for its early use oftexture mapping.[116] Meanwhile,Sierra Online released American football titleFront Page Sports Football in 1995 for the PC. The following year,Computer Gaming World named it twelfth of the Best 150 Games of All Time, the highest ranking sports game on the list.[107]
International Superstar Soccer Pro (ISS Pro), released for thePlayStation in 1997, was considered a "game-changer" for association football games, which had been largely dominated by rivalFIFA on home systems for the last several years. Developed byKonami Tokyo,ISS Pro introduced a new 3D engine capable of better graphics and more sophisticated gameplay than its rival. WhereasFIFA had a simpler "arcade-style" approach to its gameplay,ISS Pro introduced more complexsimulation gameplay emphasizing tactics and improvisation, enabled by tactical variety such as nine in-match strategy options.[113][114]
In 1997,Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that sports games accounted for roughly 50% of console software sales.[117]
At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century,extreme sport video games began to appear more frequently.
Namco'sAlpine Racer (1994) was askiingwinter sports simulator that became a major success inarcades during the mid-1990s. This led to a wave of similar sports games capitalizing on its success during the late 1990s, from companies such asSega, Namco,Konami and Innovative Concepts.[118]
In 1996, two snowboarding video games were released:Namco'sAlpine Surfer in the arcades,[119] and theUEP Systems gameCool Boarders for thePlayStation console.[120] The following year,Square's popularrole-playing video game,Final Fantasy VII, included a snowboardingminigame that was later released as an independent snowboarding game,Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding, for mobile phones.[121] In 2000,SSX was released. Based aroundboardercross, the game featured fast downhill races, avoiding various objects whilst using others to perform jumps and increase the player's speed.[122]
In 1997, Sega released one of the first mainstreamskateboarding games,Top Skater,[123] in the arcades, where it introduced askateboardcontroller interface.[124]Top Skater served as a basic foundation for later skateboarding games.[125] The following year saw the release of the console skateboarding gameStreet Sk8er, developed by Atelier Double and published byElectronic Arts. In 1999, the subgenre was further popularized byTony Hawk's Pro Skater, an arcade-like skateboarding game where players were challenged to execute elaborate tricks or collect a series of elements hidden throughout the level.[123]Tony Hawk's went on to be one of the most popular sports game franchises.[125]
Association football games became more popular in the 2000s. Konami'sISS series spawned thePro Evolution Soccer (PES) series in the early 2000s. A rivalry subsequently emerged betweenFIFA andPES, considered the "greatest rivalry" in the history of sports video games.PES became known for having "faster-paced tactical play" and more variedemergent gameplay, whileFIFA was known for having more licenses.[113][114] TheFIFA series had sold over16 million units by 2000,[126] while thePES series had sold more than10 million units by 2002.[127] The sales gap between the two franchises had narrowed by the mid-2000s.[113][114]
On December 13, 2004,Electronic Arts began a string of deals that granted exclusive rights to several prominent sports organizations, starting with theNFL.[128] This was quickly followed with two deals in January 2008 securing rights to theAFL[129] andESPN licenses.[130] This was a particularly hard blow toSega, the previous holder of the ESPN license, who had already been affected by EA's NFL deal. As the market for football brands was being quickly taken by EA,Take-Two Interactive responded by contacting theMajor League Baseball Players Association and signing a deal that granted exclusive third-party major-league baseball rights;[131] a deal not as restrictive, as first-party projects were still allowed. TheNBA was then approached by several developers, but declined to enter into an exclusivity agreement, instead granting long-term licenses toElectronic Arts,Take-Two Interactive,Midway Games,Sony, andAtari.[132] In April 2005, EA furthered its hold on American football licensing by securing rights to allNCAA brands.[133]
In 1993, Sega released theSega Activator, amotion detection game controller designed to respond to a player's body movements, for their Genesis console.[134] The Activator was based on the Light Harp, aMIDI controller invented by Assaf Gurner.[135] He was an Israeli musician and Kung Fu martial artist who researched inter disciplinarian concepts to create the experience of playing an instrument using the whole body's motion. It was released for the Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1993. It could read the player's physical movements and was the first controller to allow full-body motion sensing, The original invention related to a 3 octaves musical instrument that could interpret the user's gestures into musical notes via MIDI protocol. The invention was registered as patent initially in Israel on May 11, 1988, after 4 years of R&D. In 1992, the first complete Light Harp was created by Assaf Gurner and Oded Zur, and was presented to Sega of America.
Like the Light Harp, the Activator is an octagonal frame that lies on the floor.Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the frame vertically project thin, invisible beams ofinfrared light. When something, such as a player's arm or leg, interrupts a beam, the device reads the distance at which the interruption occurred, and interprets the signal as acommand. The device can also interpret signals from multiple beams simultaneously (i.e.,chords) as a distinct command.
Sega designed special Activator motions for a few of their own game releases. By tailoring motion signals specifically for a game, Sega attempted to provide a more intuitive gaming experience. A player could, for example, compete inGreatest Heavyweights of the Ring orEternal Champions by miming punches.
Despite these efforts, the Activator was a commercial failure. Like thePower Glove of 1989, it was widely rejected for its "unwieldiness and inaccuracy".[134]
In 2006, Nintendo releasedWii Sports, a sports game for theWii console in which the player had to physically move theirWii Remote to move theiravatar known as aMii.[136] The game contained five different sports—boxing,bowling,golf,tennis, andbaseball—which could all be played individually or with multiple players. Players could also track their skill progress through the game, as they became more proficient at the different sports, and use the training mode to practice particular situations.[137] As of 2013,Wii Sports became the second-highest selling video game of all time.[138]
The popularity of the Wii and its bundledWii Sports opened the way for other physically reactive sports-based video games, including from third-parties, such asSuper Swing Golf andWe Love Golf! based on the sport of golf,Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis based ontable tennis,MLB Power Pros based on baseball, andGrand Slam Tennis andVirtua Tennis 2009 both of which made use of the advancedWii MotionPlus remote. Nintendo themselves also pushed with further motion-based games such asMario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, in which players used the Wii Remote to simulate running, jumping and otherOlympic sports.[139] In 2008, Nintendo releasedWii Fit, which allowed players to doaerobic andfitness exercises using theWii Balance Board;[140] third-party developers also designed games using the Board, such as the skiing gameWe Ski. In a similar light, 2008 saw the release ofMario Kart Wii, aracing game which allowed the player to use their remote with aWii Wheel to act as a steering wheel, akin to those on traditional arcade racing games.[141]
The most popular subgenre in Europe isassociation football games, which up until 2010 was dominated byEA Sports with theFIFA series andKonami with thePro Evolution Soccer (PES) series. WhileFIFA was commercially ahead, the sales gap between the two franchises had narrowed.FIFA responded by borrowing gameplay elements fromPES to improveFIFA, which eventually pulled ahead commercially by a significant margin in the 2010s and emerged as the world's most successful sports video game franchise.[113][114]
In North America, the sports genre is currently dominated byEA Sports and2K Sports, who hold licenses to produce games based on official leagues. EA's franchises include theMadden NFL series, theNHL series, thePGA Tour series, theUFC series, theF1 series, theEA Sports FC series, and theNBA Live series. 2K Sports' franchises include theNBA 2K,PGA Tour 2K andWWE 2K series. 2K recently releasedTopSpin 2K25. All of these games feature real leagues, competitions and players. These games continue to sell well today despite many of the product lines being over a decade old, and receive, for the most part, consistently good reviews.
With 2K & EA Sports' domination and many sports leagues carryingexclusive licences, the North American sports video game market has become very difficult to enter; competing games in any of the above genres, with the exception of racing games, tend to be unsuccessful. This has led to a sharp drop in sports-themed titles over recent years especially with arcade titles. One of the most notable exceptions is Konami'sPro Evolution Soccer series, which is often hailed as an alternative to theFIFA series, but does not contain as many licensed teams, players, kits, or competitions. Another deviation from the norm is Sony'sMLB The Show series, which now has a monopoly on the baseball genre after the withdrawal of2K afterMLB 2K13.[142] Racing games, due to the variation that the sport can offer in terms of tracks, cars and styles, offer more room for competition and the selection of games on offer has been considerably greater (examples beingF1 and theWorld Rally Championship, and many unlicensed games). Sports management games, while not as popular as they used to be, live on through small and independent software development houses. Management titles today have transitioned to the very popularfantasy sports leagues, which are available through many websites such asYahoo. Independent developers are also creating sports titles likeSuper Mega Baseball,The Golf Club, and Freestyle2: Street Basketball.[143]
Nintendo has been able to make an impact upon the sports market by producing severalMario-themed titles, such asMario Sports Mix,Mario Golf: Super Rush,Mario Sports Superstars,Mario Tennis Aces, andMario Strikers: Battle League. These titles sell respectfully, but are only available on Nintendo'svideo game consoles, for exampleGameCube,Nintendo 64,Nintendo 3DS,Wii,Wii U andNintendo Switch.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Foreign control over the American video game industry has been increasing gradually since Taito America opened its doors in 1973. The first landmark event came in February, 1974, when Taito licensed the first Japanese video,TV Basketball, to Atari.
Midway licensedTV Basketball from Taito and set a production record of 1,400 games. Midway topped that record when it introducedWheels
I saw a soccer game with one (I remember only that it was Japanese, and a soccer game. Taito is plausible)
Contrary to a popular notion, Football was not the first game to use a trak-ball controller. According to Dave Stubben, who created the hardware for Atari Football, Taito beat Atari to market with a soccer game that used one. According to Steve Bristow, when his engineers saw the game, they brought a copy into their lab and imitated it.However, Taito'sSoccer did not use a trackball. It seems likely they misremembered, and they were actually inspired by Sega'sWorld Cup.
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