I miss it, you know? The game that put players first, bringing the fantasy of the digital world towards the wild imagination of the player and sports fan. And while it was revolutionary to play head-to-head on the same screen, let alone online in separate households, the young prodigy Icarus flew too close to The Suns.
Gone are the days when you could get off work, launch your favorite title, and continue chasing that dream for your alter ego or hometown squad, starting a dynasty from scratch or locking in for that eventual revenge against the opponents’ CPU.
We used to be able to pick a team, create a player, wrestler, or manager, and the rest was up to us. We could dominate from the get-go by maxing our stats out or grind it out, organically becoming the Greatest Of All Time. Now? That progression and narrative are almost non-existent, all thanks to the new business model in the sports videogame world.
Take football, for example. The PES-turned-eFootball franchise used to pride itself on being the player-first alternative to world-renowned FIFA. What it lacked in licenses, it overflowed in substance. Alternative gameplay, edgy approach, the best of both worlds, to suspend your disbelief.
Now, even though the eFootball title is free-to-play, the closest it gets to the single-player campaign is a poor excuse of a FUT rip-off, one of EA Sports' strongest suits that ultimately replaced the resources for an integral player/manager mode.
Cards are now currency, and microtransactions matter more than intel, strategy, and even luck, ultimately sucking you out of the self-made immersiveness the sports genre used to thrive in. It didn’t matter where you came from or how much money you had. If you bought the game, you had a chance to make your own history until next year's release.
Season in and season out, acquiring players, methodically re-signing stars, understanding strengths and weaknesses in a completely fictional group. Whether you managed the guys, played from a single POV, or took over the whole team, it felt just like that – a team. This made successes all the sweeter.
Eventually, EA Sports understood there was no extra money being made in the player’s imagination. So, to uneven the playing field, not only have measures been taken over the past couple of years to dumb down and/or completely get rid of similar modes, but almost all of the developing and updating stage is dedicated to Ultimate Team, the “RNG” card-opening game mode, where the past meets the present, and your expenses meet the ceiling.
2K tried their own hand, emulating this business model to a fairly modest reception. A shameless cash grab using personalities from the golden age, often posthumously, combined with new age viral sensations, as if to say sports video games are the vehicle for these once-in-a-lifetime rivalries, all strategically placed behind a shiny packs of cards.
Credit where it’s due, 2K is still stubbornly attempting to lead the charge in the scripted story category for both NBA and WWE, and failing to do so. MyPlayer and MyStory modes are being treated as main features and replacements instead of complements and options for the player in every instalment.
For decades now, the go-to way to compete in your favorite title is through online playlists. Even before the pandemic, two-controller games were at an all-time low. And that’s exactly how they like it. These companies want your money, and they cannot get it offline.
Even single-player challenges require an internet connection. Heck, some games won’t even launch without a signal. It’s starting screen, button press, and a million ads for their own game. DLCs, new packs, buy now. I only want to have a mediocre season and an underdog Super Bowl run, man... maybe next year.
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