What Can Sports Games Learn from World of Warcraft

[RaychelSnr]

Sports gamers who have been keeping up with the rest of the video-game industry may have noticed that Blizzard Entertainment’s flagship title, World of Warcraft, recently reached the impressive mark of 11 million subscribers, giving it the largest active player-base of any game to date.

With all the profits that Warcraft is generating for Blizzard (per person: $50 for the game, $40 for each of the two expansions, and about $15 in monthly subscription fees -- plus the game essentially cannot be pirated), it is no stretch to assume that sports developers must be thinking about how they, too, could incorporate some of the addictive massively multiplayer online (MMO) aspects into their own lineup of games.

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[jkra0512]

I really enjoyed this article, but please don't bring back the cribs from the 2k series. I just think that would be a waste of development time. I do like the shrine feature that was notably absent in NCAA Football '09.

I think MMO qualities could be implemented into our sports games as you outlined. But, I think we are far off before we see any 11-on-11 football action, which is sad.

As a whole, I see this generation's sports games as a failure. Playstation2 and Xbox were heading in the right direction and somewhere between the generation jump developers forgot how to make good games year after year. (NHL is the exception)

[Indiedog]

The items you list are interesting, and I can safely say that just about every one of these has been in discussion with one sports game developer or another..........for a long time. The profitability of developing most of these items have not been there, yet. So kudos on your article, but it's more of a confirmation of ideas sports gamers are interested in rather than being a genius manifesto. We'll see which developers are smart enough to do any of these.

[Cryolemon]

Re: What Can Sports Games Learn from World of Warcraft

Cool article. One thing I like from NFL 2k5 was the option to download other peoples profiles and play against them, that was a cool idea.

[bronco92]

One of the best articles I've read on OS. I have a feeling that this will be one piece of writing that we'll look back on in 5-10 years and be impressed at how accurate Jayson was at predicting the future of sports gaming.

[catcatch22]

You did not mention the Dungeons and Dragons aspect of All Pro Football 2k8. Building a team with players with different abilities that can counter other abilities. However you are strapped with only 11 choices.

Oops you did re read it.

[jwmw9207]

OMG this is what i have been asking for! awesome article. fifa has come pretty close but i would love more indepth. i like the making a player taking them online and forming teams. this is awesome and creating trophies and stuff. there is no doubt that this will be hard to pull off but it would be so awesome. i think baseball would be a great way to test this idea... you only have to work on getting nine people and sure its slow game but everyone will have a role. look at what the show did with career mode just make that in a mmo role. this would be great to fight for cy young awards or mvp's. have a team actually draft players based on a "try out camp" at the end of a season you have free agency where every manager gets points to spend on free agents. again will there be enough interest but i think this is the future and hell this could even lead to pro leagues like we have pro halo tourneys ect.... the future is so bright and im looking forward to the future.

[Gossennator]

11vs11 football would be the best...
They should start messing with by doing 7v7 pass scales just to see what they need to do to make the 11v11 experience a perfect one.

[fjccommish]

People can form teams now, play online, and all it takes is a little organization before they get endorsements.

It already happens with the Madden Challenge.

Halo isn't an MMO, yet there are teams of people making six figures playing the game.

[Cardot]

Yeah, I think this article is a pretty good prediction of where we are headed. And while I understand alot of people are excited about it, I am a bit bummed. One reason I enjoy sports video games is that I can get away from people. So I really prefer the single player experience. But it has been pretty clear the last few years that develpers are shifting the focus to online.

[jwmw9207]

People can form teams now, play online, and all it takes is a little organization before they get endorsements.

It already happens with the Madden Challenge.

Halo isn't an MMO, yet there are teams of people making six figures playing the game.

Iknow halo isnt an mmo...duh... i was just commenting on how halo teams earn a lot of money playing that game.

[JeffHCross]

The one danger, in my opinion, is if sports companies start to REQUIRE users to use MMO-features in online play. For example, I know some guys that play NHL '09 that absolutely refuse to play a game unless it's full 6-on-6 human controlled. That's not fun to me, having to wait for everyone. Yes, it's similar to the guild concept, but in my experience people paying $15/month to an MMO are much more committed time-wise.

I'd love it if EA took some aspects of WoW or EVE Online into their sports games. Just as long as they don't make that a requirement for those of us that don't want to mix the two.

[mgoblue]

Re: What Can Sports Games Learn from World of Warcraft

Great article for sure! Love all the concepts indicated within.

Unfortunately, one current aspect of EA Sports prevents all this from happening: no consistent post-release support.

Once you enter the world of online-centric games, support becomes top priority to mantain balance and fairness in the online world. Until EA adapts to this support structure (which I have been writing EA for years now...2004 to be exact), none of this will ever come to light. Oh sure they can deliver online-centric features like the EASHL but without quick, consistent and long term patch support, such features will become trash within a very short time. Case and point: just look at the current state of the EASHL. It's an absolute disaster.

It's tough to be a MMOG without a monthly fee...I'm sure if we paid 15 bucks a month we'd get more patches...