Even more so than the biggest games such as ‘Call of Duty’, sports video games are something of a landmark of the gaming year, with each new release being an expected update more than a surprise drop.
It’s easy to get lost between versions as features and designs are refined with each passing year, so here’s a rundown of the latest version of each series and anything that’s new.
Madden 23
The latest NFL game went live in August of this year and looks every bit to be a polish and a shine on ‘Madden 22’. More than adding new features, EA have stripped everything back, worked on the core AI and mechanics behind the game and generally got everything running smoothly again.
‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ is the ethos behind EA at the moment, and stability is a big positive for the markets around it. Esports rely on that stability between titles, as do sportsbooks; having clear variables makes generating odds from prior results and form a much simpler process. Sportsbooks will rely on bonuses and odds to bring in new players, especially for those who want to be involved with the community. This article tells you all you need to know about Ohio specifically as they get ready to open their own market, but as of next year, states in the US are embracing sports betting, including virtual sports like ‘Madden’.
FIFA 23
The latest version of ‘FIFA’ has made one monumental move forwards for this edition. Making it a prominent feature on the cover of the ‘Ultimate Edition’, ‘FIFA 23’ now includes women’s football for the first time ever, featuring the top flights of the English and French women’s leagues with expansions to these planned down the road.
Beyond this significant jump, however, the only major new feature of note is the ‘HyperMotion2’ system, touted as a machine-learning way of generating over 6,000 match animations from ‘watching’ real football matches. More importantly, though, this will officially be the last FIFA-branded game from EA, as the two organisations won’t be working together after this. ‘EA Sports FC’ is set to be the name going forwards.
NBA 2k23
The biggest name in basketball gaming has been getting a lot of praise on the whole. Without going into the tiny details, adjustments to shooting, dribbling and defence have all been well received, while dunking has become the centre point of play.
Something that a lot of reviewers are pointing out is that, unlike in previous entries, developers 2K are much more cautious about making patches and fixes, unlike in previous games where they could alter the entire meta shortly after launch.
Beyond this, the player builder function has gone even more in-depth, defensive AI now works much more than intended, and the MyNBA Eras feature opens up decades of basketball history to play through, all of which have been welcome additions.
Final thoughts
There are well-known jokes amongst gamers that with sports titles, all developers do is change the number on the cover but keep the bugs. With this last latest batch of games, however, it feels like EA and 2K have listened to this criticism a lot more, focusing on perfecting their games more than adding many more fancy options.
