In the world of sports gaming, there are two main companies that run it: 2K Sports and Electronic Arts Sports. 2K has control of the NBA’s exclusive video game rights and EA Sports has exclusive control of the video game rights of the NFL. With no competition to each other, these companies hold monopolies on sports games and yet they consistently underperform. With no other option, what are die-hard sports gaming fans supposed to do? They have no choice but to play a bad game with little effort put into making it. Monopolies create laziness and complacency, so why are they allowed in one of the biggest industries in all of America?
NBA 2K
Since their only competitor in EA Sports’ NBA Live cancelled production in 2019, 2K’s games are yet to reach an 8/10 rating from IGN. They constantly release the same game over and over again with nothing more than a roster update and some “improved graphics.”
NBA 2K brings players in because of their MyPlayer mode, a mode in which you create your own player, build their skills and get them better by playing large amounts of time. Players can meet up with their friends’ MyPlayers in The City and play 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and 5v5 basketball, just like real-life. The issue is that 2K constantly releases games that are not just extremely like the one released just months before, but they’re also easily exploitable, as well as being littered with bugs and glitches.
All NBA 2K is about is exploiting the system. Every player has the same mentality because every player watched the same YouTube video that showed them how to exploit the game. This isn’t the player’s fault, everyone wants to win, and most people will change their playstyles to do so, but 2K completely ignores these exploitations and allows a broken, unrealistic basketball game to be the only one on the market.
There is no competition to them. What’s a die-hard basketball fan going to do when they are unhappy with 2K? Nothing, because there is no other option. This mentality has completely destroyed what once used to be a good game and I’ve lost zero faith in it ever being a good game in the near future.
Madden NFL
Madden NFL has made some attempts to go back to where they once were as a company, but the lack of competition has made them complacent. Recent innovations include Superstar X-Factor, giving the best players in the NFL special abilities on the field. While this was a good idea in theory, the execution of it has made Madden look and feel like an arcade football game. Some abilities that were added in are just unrealistic and make the game nothing like real life.
Since Madden 20, Madden’s ratings have fallen off a cliff. After three straight years of at least an 8.1/10, Madden is yet to surpass 6.1/10.
Madden’s exploitation is just as bad, if not worse, than 2K’s. If someone plays ten online Madden games in a row, they’re going to run into the same offensive and defensive schemes around eight or nine times. Every player runs the same run plays that are glitched to have better blocking, or blitzes that make linemen freeze, and the same passing plays that force defenders to do things that NFL players would never do. Things like defensive backs winning jump balls with wide receivers 100% of the time is easily one of the worst parts about the game.
Microtransactions: Pay 2 Win
Both games have a lot in common, but nothing more than microtransactions. Madden and 2K both have modes where you can build your dream team in a card-collecting series. Madden’s Ultimate Team and 2K’s MyTeam have paths to playing without investing additional money, but the amount of time someone needs to spend on the game is unrealistic.
There is no way a person can compete in these modes without investing legitimate money in packs, that include players and have a chance at good ones, that aren’t even guaranteed to give good players. Not only are these games monopolies in the market, but they also charge their players large amounts of money just for a little, tiny chance of getting a good player from these packs.
The Pay-2-Win mentality has created a monster in the sports gaming world. For every player that isn’t willing to pay $100 for non-guaranteed packs, there is a player that is willing to spend $1000 to make sure that they have the best possible team. The no money spent players stand little to no chance against these amazing cards. 2K and EA engineer games a certain way so that player skill cannot overcome a good card. Pay-2-Win has ruined an entire genre.
