The Decline of Sports Video Games
Sports video games have been a staple in the gaming industry since the early 2000s.
The decline has been quickly approaching for a little while now. I’ve noticed it most in the NBA 2K franchise.
In NBA 2K, specifically NBA 2K23, you need to spend real money to buy in-game currency to upgrade your player in a game mode called MyCareer.
You had to spend around $150 to upgrade your player to the maximum overall. I thought it was crazy people would spend that much money to pay to win rather than just play the game and upgrade by winning.
That’s when I realized it is significantly harder to upgrade your player without paying. The highest I got was an 85 overall without spending money just because I found the process super repetitive.
Most sports games haven’t been doing well because of the pay-to-win tactics labeled “micro-transactions”.
Madden has been guilty of this too. I can’t go into too much depth because I’ve only played Madden 22, but from what I’ve seen, you need money to win.
You’re forced to spend upwards of 100s of dollars to get a solid enough team to beat people online. But even if you get a solid team, you still need to learn the hidden tricks of the game to beat your opponent, which could be a pain to learn.
The only game franchise that doesn’t force you to use micro-transactions is MLB the Show. The Show still has micro-transactions, but I’ve never spent money on any MLB The Show game and I’ve had a perfectly fine team that had the same players as a person who spent a lot of money.
The Show does well with the skill gaps. You rarely see someone do better than you just because of the team they have. It’s always because of their skill.
I’ve refused to buy NBA 2K24 and Madden 24 this year because I don’t want to continue to support companies that make games you need to spend money on just to be good.
The only reason that companies keep putting more microtransactions in games is because they know people will buy it either way. We as fans of these games should know better and maybe not buy these games this year.
