6 Commandments to Follow to Make Good Sports Games in 2025

With a host of major sports games coming out over the next two months, it’s a good time to put together some commandments that sports game developers should be following to make a great sports game in 2025 and beyond. Some elements that go into a good sports game are timeless, but it’s undeniable that other things have changed through the years, and everyone needs to evolve with the times.

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When a lot of you reading this newsletter first started playing sports games, the internet was not even a thing. I’m not trying to call any of us old by saying that, but I think it’s important to realize we have a refined perspective that some other people did not grow up with at this point. Every form of media has to change and evolve with technology and people’s tastes, and with video games that’s even more true than most other entertainment out there. So even if sports themselves have not fundamentally changed in many years, the video games that have been “adapted” to pay homage to these sports have changed a lot.

Online play, microtransactions, career modes, and content creation are just some of the things inside and outside of sports games that have changed the landscape. But even with those changes, there’s no doubt in my mind a lot of things have not changed about how you make a good sports game. There are rules all developers should follow, so I think a list of Sports Game Commandments are important to remember in this day and age.

Since I’m someone who has played an unhealthy amount of sports games over the course of their life, I feel I’m the right shepherd for this job, and so I’m ready to share these six commandments sports game developers should live by in 2025.

Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Gamer’s Wallet

Sports game companies have become entirely too thirsty during the microtransactions era that started back with the Xbox 360, and it has only gotten more extreme since 2005. We’re all aware of the transactional nature of the relationship we have with these companies, but it’s offensive how quickly they want to get in our wallets right after we’ve forked over full price at launch. If $60 or $70 at launch is not good enough for these companies, then fair enough, but at least wine and dine us a little bit before trying to yoink some more money from our wallets.

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