In the modern gaming era, we live in a world where gamers can access a huge variety of different experiences, including those revolving around sports.

Sports games today immerse players in the thick of the action, with all manner of sports being immortalised in gaming form, from football to snowboarding.  

However, this hasn’t always been the case. In the past few decades, sports video games have come a long, long way indeed.  

Sports Games, the Early Years

Interestingly, the world’s first sports game was also the world’s first video game. In 1958, physicist William Higinbotham pioneered early game design techniques when he created a game using an oscilloscope called Tennis For Two.  

It would be a further 10+ years, however, before sports-based gaming activities were accepted into the mainstream. In 1972, a humble game called Pong for the Atari came along and kickstarted a craze for sports video games.  

Essentially a rough interpretation of tennis, Pong was originally crated by Allan Acorn to serve as a training programme. However, it would go on to be a best-seller in gaming arcades, bringing in the equivalent of $30 to $40 a night in some cities and countries.  

The following decade, in 1987, another gaming milestone was achieved when Electronic Arts released its first sports game, Earl Weaver Baseball. To this day, the game is still thought to be one of the best baseball-themed games ever designed, while initiating EA’s supremacy as a core developer in the sports gaming market.  

As the 1990s began to approach, the 16-bit era of console gaming arrived and ushered in a wave of different sports games across different consoles. Nintendo’s Super Nintendo and SEGA’s Mega Drive both featured several different types of sports games, while even niche consoles like Atari’s Jaguar had their own version of hockey, baseball, football and tennis games.  

The Golden Years of Sports Games

The mid-90s to early 2000s have been deemed the golden era of video gaming, due to the boom in growth the industry experienced. Sports games, too, had their golden years.  

The release of internet-connected consoles such as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Sega Dreamcast opened up a torrent of gaming possibilities for the sports genre. Meanwhile, motion capture technology enabled designers to create characters with lifelike movements, leading to sports-based video games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Major League Baseball and, of course, Madden NFL.  

Sports Games in the Digital Era

Here in 2021, the sports gaming genre is one of the biggest markets in the global gaming industry. With gaming now worth over $300 billion (Accenture) every year, it is sports titles that are breaking out as some of the best-selling games of all time. Meanwhile, the genre itself has expanded to now include everything from digital variants of classic casino games all the way through to eSports, AKA professional video gaming.  

The FIFA franchise is just one example of a sports game that has transcended the limitations of its medium to become a mainstream phenomenon. Appealing equally to diehard sports fans and gamers alike, the franchise has generated a massive $260 million in sales since it first emerged on the scene back in 1994. 

Games like Football Manager, meanwhile, integrate practices like fantasy sports into mainstream gaming experiences, allowing fans to live out their dreams of managing their favourite football teams.  

With gaming technology now offering unparalleled levels of immersion and interaction, thanks to advanced tech innovations like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, gamers can also participate physically in their favourite sports through the medium of video gaming.  

Top Ten Most Successful Sport Games of all time

10. Football Manager (Sports Interactive) – $18.1 million 

9. Tiger Woods PGA Tour (EA Sports) – $25 million 

8. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (Activision Blizzard) – $30 million 

7. NBA Live (EA Sports) – $35 million 

6. WWE 2K (2K Sports) – $60 million 

5. Gran Turismo (Sony) – $80 million  

4. NBA 2K (2K Sports) – $90 million 

3. Pro Evolution Soccer (Konami) – $107 million 

2. Madden NFL (EA Sports) – $130 million 

1. FIFA (EA Sports) – $260 million