Sports Games on PC (the state of sports games and where to find them)

[ZedClampet]

Many indie sports games are on sale right now, possibly due to the Super Bowl last weekend, so I thought I would highlight sports games on PC.

Just looking at the console and PC market combined, sports games are one of the top game genres, but almost all of that comes from the console rather than the PC side. The reason seems to be, based on my many years on sports forums, that people you wouldn't normally consider gamers will often buy sports games and may even be the primary market for them. Naturally these people tend to buy consoles to play their game of choice. In fact, I frequently talk to people who are wanting to buy a console just for a single sports game.

Nevertheless, sports games are healthy on PC, and some of them, like Football Manager and Out of the Park baseball sell most of their copies on Steam. You can find sports games for nearly every sport, and usually there are "manager" versions for each sport.

You can follow these links to the sport of your choice:

Football (Soccer)
Football (American)
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey
Rugby and Cricket
Golf
Racing

 

[ZedClampet]

Football (Soccer) -- How it's listed on Steam​

Despite how boring it is (sorry, couldn't resist), soccer is the world's favorite sport. The two biggest paid soccer games (and sports games--not counting racing--in general) on Steam are EA Sports FC (sells a tiny fraction of what it sells on console) and Football Manager (PC is its primary market).

Check out Football (Soccer) games here:

Football (Soccer)

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

There are vast numbers of soccer games on Steam, every type imaginable, both free and paid. One that looks especially fun to me is a third/first person game called Pro Soccer Online.

Pro Soccer Online on Steam

Pro Soccer Online is a 1st/3rd person, highly skill based, online multiplayer soccer game. It offers a sports game experience unlike any other with smooth, physics based, input driven gameplay that is competitive and rewarding with no pay to win mechanics.

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Football (American)​

Though Madden doesn't sell particularly well on PC, it's available as is just about any other type of football game you can imagine.

Check out Football (American) games here:

Football (American)

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

Other than Madden, two of the biggest selling football games are Mutant Football League (fantasy) and Football Coach: College Dynasty (management). The latter, which I've advertised on numerous sports forums, is doing satisfyingly well for a sports management game, and it deserves it, too. It's a fantastic game, rivaling Football Manager in scope and execution.

Football Coach: College Dynasty on Steam

A true college football management game. Play as a coach or a school, recruit players, develop your team, and compete for national championships. Build a college football dynasty and become a coaching legend!

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Baseball​

While Sony's The Show has yet to make an appearance on PC, there are still plenty of baseball games to choose from, both paid and free.

Check out Baseball games here:

Baseball

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

The two biggest baseball games on PC are the Out of the Park Baseball series, which are management games, and Super Mega Baseball (one of my favorite games)

One free game perhaps worth a look is Astonishing Baseball Manager

Astonishing Baseball Manager on Steam

Build your dream lineup, manage a baseball team, sign contracts and live the exciting life of a baseball manager!

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Basketball​

Again spoilt for choice, you can play anything from arcade games to franchise managers, from pro basketball to college (American).

The two biggest basketball games are both series, NBA2K and Freestyle.

You can see basketball games here:

Basketball

Default sale page template for content hubs.

store.steampowered.com

One non-traditional basketball game that might be worth looking at is Regular Human Basketball

Regular Human Basketball on Steam

Ready to play some ball? Grab a team, suit up, and climb inside your human! Prep its thrusters, lower the all-terrain wheels, and spin up that flailing magnet-arm. It's time to play Regular Human Basketball!

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Hockey​

Hockey has been historically a bit of a sore point for PC gaming sports fans, as EA has held back it's excellent NHL game, but recent years have seen an influx of indie games to fill the void.

Two of the most popular hockey games are Slapshot: Rebound and Tape to Tape.

You can check out hockey games here:

Hockey

Default sale page template for content hubs.

store.steampowered.com

One criminally ignored hockey game series that you may want to check out are the Franchise Hockey Manager games, which are made by the same people as the Out of the Park Baseball games mentioned above.

Franchise Hockey Manager 10 on Steam

Franchise Hockey Manager returns for the 2023-24 season with plenty of additions to the deepest, most authentic hockey strategy gaming experience you can find. Choose from teams around the globe and select a team to guide to glory, including a chance at the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup®.

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Rugby and Cricket​

When I was reserving posts for each sport, I didn't think there were that many cricket games, so I tossed it in with Rugby. I was wrong, but it's too late to change it now

It's kind of hard to determine what the most popular Rugby and Cricket games are, as they don't seem to sell very well, but Rubgy Union Team Manager seems to be up there. On the cricket side, the series simply named Cricket seems to be the top seller.

You can check out Rugby games here:

Rugby

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

And cricket games here:

Cricket

Default sale page template for content hubs.

store.steampowered.com

Unfortunately, none of these games seem to review very well, so I'm not going to list anything in particular to look at. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't find a game you enjoy.

 

[ZedClampet]

Golf​

This includes both golf and mini-golf, and has a wide range of indie games of every style except for one. I want a game where you are a caddie!

A lot of golf games seem to do well. Two of the more popular ones are Golf With Your Friends (mini-golf) and PGA Tour 2K. EA also has a golf game on Steam.

You can check out golf games here:

Golf

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

A cool little golf course design game that I've enjoyed is Golftopia

GolfTopia on Steam

DESIGN, BUILD and MANAGE your own futuristic golf course. Keep 200 persistent visitors fed, hydrated, and happy. Defend your creation from a growing infestation of weeds with robotic workers and defensive turrets. Evolve your course into a mega resort where nobody wants to go home, EVER!

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Racing​

Last but definitely not least is racing. This is where the PC shines. Get those wheels and multiscreen setups going.

There are too many very successful and long-standing racing games to pick two best sellers, but a couple of successful games with very different styles are the Forza Horizon games and Assetto Corsa.

You can check out racing games here:

Racing

Racing Hub

store.steampowered.com

One game worth mentioning is the hyper-popular BeamNG.Drive. It may not be the type of racing game you are looking for, but the fully destructible cars make for endless fun.

BeamNG.drive on Steam

A dynamic soft-body physics vehicle simulator capable of doing just about anything.

store.steampowered.com

 

[DXCHASE]

Sports, ew

Actually, speaking of football, this was my favorite football game as a kid:

Soccer Shootout

 

[Zimbaly]

Mutant Football League, Super Blood Hockey, Super Mega Baseball, World Fighting Soccer 22.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

International Cricket Captain is still going. I first played it in 1998 and then bought the 2002 edition. The 2023 game looks almost the same from screenshots, its your only choice for a Cricket management sim afaik.

I sometimes consider getting Football Manager again, but then I think about how long a season takes and how much time I get to play games and dont. Sensible Soccer anyone?

 

[D10S]

I played a lot of fifa 07 and pes 12/13 as a kid.

 

[Brian Boru]

Wow Zed, great thread, thanks for your effort

 

[Brian Boru]

Hockey

Your link seems to be for Ice Hockey, one of many variants of the Hockey family:
Bandy
Field hockey
Ice hockey
Para ice hockey
Inline sledge hockey
Roller hockey (inline)
Roller hockey (quad)
Street hockey
We won't even get into the many more spinoffs

none of these games seem to review very well

I can't speak for cricket, but the rugby games I've tried have been abysmal. As in, even worse than other sports games—and that's bad, we're talking sharing same barrel bottom as RPG

Now that's only "playing" games, I haven't tried any management games—no reason they shouldn't be good, if there are some.

Others

Three other sports in world's top-10 by fan base:
Table tennis
Tennis
Volleyball + Beach

 

[ZedClampet]

Your link seems to be for Ice Hockey, one of many variants of the Hockey family:

I responded to this earlier in the guise of a smarta$$, but didn't end up liking the post because it was hard to identify as sarcasm. Let me try again.

In all seriousness, although I don't think you were being serious, the link I provided actually covers all hocky variants. I don't know if any of those other variants have video games, but if they do, they will be in that list somewhere. It would probably be easier to find them with Google, though.

I can't speak for cricket, but the rugby games I've tried have been abysmal. As in, even worse than other sports games—and that's bad, we're talking sharing same barrel bottom as RPG

Now that's only "playing" games, I haven't tried any management games—no reason they shouldn't be good, if there are some.

I still haven't tried that rugby game I bought a few months ago. But since I don't know anything about rugby, I would be a bad judge of how faithful it is to the sport. I'll be able to tell if it's a wonky jankfest, though.

Others

Three other sports in world's top-10 by fan base:
Table tennis
Tennis
Volleyball + Beach

I could have put the three net sports together and tossed in some others like bowling, Olympic sports, etc. but by then I was tired and done with it. My big mistake was Skiing and various extreme sports, which are well represented in gaming, and actually should have been included, but the post was spontaneous as opposed to planned, and I just didn't think about them. However, they should be included in "racing" even if it would be nice to have them separate.

[Mod edit: fixed broken quote.]

 

[Zloth]

This was free one day, so I got it and had a few hours of fun. The mini-golf holes get big fast!

Save 85% on Vertiginous Golf on Steam

Vertiginous Golf is a dystopian steam punk mini golf adventure game set in the skies above an alternate world where life on the ground is enveloped in permanent smog, constant darkness and never-ending rain.

store.steampowered.com

Does pinball count as sport? How about a pinball/RPG hybrid??

Rollers of the Realm on Steam

Bounce, spin, and battle through scenes of an epic storyline with a band of medieval misfits tasked with reclaiming the world from dark and ancient magic. Your characters are the balls—meeting new characters unlocks new sets of equipment and abilities!

store.steampowered.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

​

When I was reserving posts for each sport, I didn't think there were that many cricket games, so I tossed it in with Rugby. I was wrong, but it's too late to change it now

Second biggest spectator sport on the planet by fan base. Not a surprise to me. EA used to do a yearly Cricket game which was recently discontinued and there were a lot of 'Graham Gooch' (really his name) and 'Shane Warnes' games, but the one I played most was Stick Cricket. Truly I used to have way more time on my hands.

 

[ZedClampet]

Second biggest spectator sport on the planet by fan base. Not a surprise to me. EA used to do a yearly Cricket game which was recently discontinued and there were a lot of 'Graham Gooch' (really his name) and 'Shane Warnes' games, but the one I played most was Stick Cricket. Truly I used to have way more time on my hands.

The whole cricket and rugby thing is a little weird to me after I started looking at them more closely. For sports with as many fans as they have, the games produced are seemingly low quality, and almost no one buys them. But that's just on PC. As I said in my first post, these games may be much more popular on console, and there may be better games that I don't know about because they aren't on PC.

But some of the figures for real world sports may be grossly inflated, too. I have no way of knowing. FIFA is pretty famous for putting out ridiculous numbers that are obviously incorrect. That doesn't mean the others do that, but I have to consider that it's a possibility.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The whole cricket and rugby thing is a little weird to me after I started looking at them more closely. For sports with as many fans as they have, the games produced are seemingly low quality, and almost no one buys them. But that's just on PC. As I said in my first post, these games may be much more popular on console, and there may be better games that I don't know about because they aren't on PC.

But some of the figures for real world sports may be grossly inflated, too. I have no way of knowing. FIFA is pretty famous for putting out ridiculous numbers that are obviously incorrect. That doesn't mean the others do that, but I have to consider that it's a possibility.

I can see why you might think that having never really seen it, but Cricket is the biggest sport in the Asian subcontinent by far. India is mad for it, Pakistan's former cricket captain became their Prime Minister, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

I dont think those places have the sort of size video game markets EA is after though, so I can see why games wouldnt do Fifa or even Madden numbers.

 

[Brian Boru]

FIFA is pretty famous for putting out ridiculous numbers that are obviously incorrect

Oh I hadn't heard about that, probably because I don't pay any attention to FIFA—doesn't surprise me a bit tho, sports bodies in general are a disgrace.

What kind of numbers do they misrepresent? Participation, attendance, viewership, sales? For country or club?

I dont think those places have the sort of size video game markets

They'd have the size, but not the revenue. Eg Bollywood sells more cinema tickets than Hollywood, but has only a small fraction of the revenue. The revenue will of course continue to swing to the East as time passes.

rugby thing is a little weird to me after I started looking at them more closely. For sports with as many fans as they have, the games produced are seemingly low quality, and almost no one buys them

I follow plenty of worldwide rugby action, club and international, and I don't remember ever seeing a rugby game advertised. My NFL viewing has been tiny by comparison, but Madden has had plenty of outings in my face.

I also follow gaming quite a bit and I don't think I've ever seen an ad for a rugby game—but again, I see Madden & FIFA on a regular basis.

Only things I can think of—in comparison with say American football and football:
♣ Football: gameplay loop is relatively very simple, only a small number of different main actions.
♦ American football: plays are very quick, maybe 10 seconds or so—rugby can have 3-4 minutes of continuous play.
♥ Both: most of the play is about the guy with the ball—in rugby, it's a lot more about the other guys.

Just had a quick rugby search on Steam and looked at the top Union game Rugby 22. Trailer & gameplay footage did not remotely catch my interest. If I understand the mechanics—which I may not—it seems to focus on executing actions with the controller [KB & Mouse not supported] similar to fighting or other fast action games. That probably won't interest most rugby fans, since that's not what the IRL game is about.

But dunno, just rambling out loud