By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
Two of my favorite hobbies are sports and video games. Lucky for me, those two go hand in hand. Over the years, we have seen a trove of both good and bad sports video games. The mainstream ones range from EA’s FC (FIFA), UFC, NHL, Madden and College Football to MLB The Show and NBA 2K. And then there are the ones slightly off the beaten path. Each genre provides its own fun and frustrations.
In my childhood, I was fortunate enough to have access to some cult classics. My dad owned a Nintendo 64, and with it were games like 1080 Snowboarding, Cruis’n World and WCW vs. NWO Revenge. Growing older, I played NFL 2K5. My step-dad downloaded a version of NBA Jam on our home computer. I’m sure some of you played that in arcades back in the day. I sunk hours into arguably the best sports video game ever made: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. My teenage years were largely spent playing FIFA (now FC). These days, I spend a lot of sports video gaming time playing College Football 27 in an online dynasty with friends of mine.
The College Football franchise died a sad death in 2014, back then it was named NCAA Football. It had a counterpart, NCAA Basketball, that was cancelled after 2010. In my opinion, this was one of, if not the, first domino to fall with college sports heading toward NIL. A former D1 basketball player realized EA was essentially using his likeness for its game that was making money, and he wasn’t earning a cut. Now, every player in college football gets a small check from EA for the new college football games. But, for more than a decade, one of the most popular sports gaming franchises laid dormant.
Rumors have been swirling that that the College Football franchise might be shuttered again due to rising NIL payments to players. That’s awful rich, coming from a company like EA that reported $7.5 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2026. The gaming industry suffering from executive greed is its own topic. I could go on about my disappointment in the direction sports video game studios have been going for the last several years, but I would rather highlight some of the more off-the-beaten-trail ones..
If you want to get really out there, did you know there was a Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup game? That was another one I had the luck of being able to play, even if it’s a made-up sport. Other fun ones I wish would make a comeback are the NFL and NBA Street games. They were a lot goofier and grittier, and they stayed away from the polished versions of the sport. Boy, were they fun.
I’ve only scratched the surface with what sports games are out there. Countless others exist from golf to fishing to demolition derby to chess to tennis to boxing to swimming to bowling and all the way back again. Some are serious versions, hyper focused on realism and proper simulation. Others are zany, less dressed up, and more focused on fun sports games. I enjoy both.
Many of those other sports games have gone by the wayside, seeming to never return again. Some have made a comeback, like Backyard Baseball. A game that had many 1990s and 2000s kids gripped put out a new version of the classic to great fanfare. I would love to see these older franchises make triumphant returns and for these developers to have a little more fun with their games. A lot of the minor details, goofy game modes and general fun have been lost over time in favor of pleasing the competitive scene for sports games.
Have a favorite sports game from your childhood, or one you still play today? Feel free to reach out to me let me know at cyote@dmcityview.com.